billion, an increase of 11 percent versus
2010 sales of $13.4 billion. PPG’s full year
2011 net income was $1.1 billion, or $6.87
per diluted share, versus 2010 net income of
$769 million, or $4.63 per diluted share.
Full year 2010 adjusted net income was
$854 million, or $5.14 per diluted share.
“PPG achieved record earnings per
share each quarter this year by focusing
on strong execution in its global businesses, aggressive cost management and
amplified cash deployment,” said Charles
Bunch, PPG chairman and chief executive.
“In so doing, we delivered the best full
year earnings per share in PPG’s history.
“This strong performance was achieved
despite moderating global growth rates
during the fourth quarter,” Bunch said.
“During the year, we experienced uneven
economic conditions, persistent raw material inflation, and continued anemic construction activity in developed regions.
However, the geographic and end-use market diversity of our business portfolio continued to be an important benefit in 2011.”
For the fourth quarter, Bunch noted that
volumes were flat with the prior-year period, as some customers curtailed inventory
and remained cautious with their ordering
patterns in light of economic uncertainty.
This was most evident in Europe, where
overall sales volumes fell by one percent.
However, Bunch said that PPG experienced strengthening global demand during the fourth quarter in several end-use
markets, including aerospace, automotive
manufacturing and several general industrial markets. He added that this higher
demand was supplemented by PPG market share gains.
“During the quarter, we continued to
aggressively pursue price increases and
made further progress in countering high
raw material cost inflation. Although prices
of many raw materials have stabilized, we
plan to implement additional price increases in 2012 to offset the inflation we
have already absorbed,” Bunch said.
Looking ahead, Bunch said that he anticipates first quarter 2012 growth to remain uneven by region and varied by
industry, similar to the fourth quarter
2011. “We expect the European region to
remain the most challenging,” he said. “We
expect moderate strengthening in the U.S.
economic recovery, supported by an enhanced global cost position in the industrial sector due to lower regional natural
gas prices. In the aggregate, emerging-re-gion growth rates are expected to remain
high compared to developed regions but
more moderate and erratic than they have
been in the past.
Performance Coatings segment sales for
the quarter were $1.1 billion, up $34 mil-
lion versus the prior year. Higher selling
prices were realized in each business, while
segment volumes declined two percent ver-
sus last year. The aerospace business con-
tinued to deliver excellent growth.
Automotive refinish volumes fell modestly
due to customer inventory management
and softer European economic conditions.
U.S. architectural coatings sales improved,
including company-owned same-store sales
gains of high-single-digit percentages, due
to higher pricing, while volumes remained
flat. Architectural coatings volumes in
emerging regions declined by mid- to high-
single-digit percentages, including lower de-
mand in China, and marine vol-
umes declined by mid-single-digit
percentages due to reduced ship-
building activity. Segment earnings
were down $30 million from the prior year
due primarily to the lower marine and ar-
chitectural coatings results, including the
lower activity levels, higher inflation levels
versus pricing and higher costs. The cost in-
crease included higher year-over-year ma-
rine customer claims expense and
additional selling and marketing costs in ar-
chitectural coatings.
www.coatingsworld.com
Coatings World | 23
