reasonably well registering good revenue growth rates and
profit for most companies operating in this market. Poland
also had a reasonable growth. Russia fared poorly on the back
of shrinkage of demand.
Charles W. Shaver: The many sectors served by coatings products continued to provide a good balance for overall industry
performance. The market for automotive coatings continued to
be strong in all major regions with western Europe showing renewed stability. Industrial markets in general showed strength
as well. Selected emerging markets such as Brazil and China
grew at a slower rate than in prior years. Finally, foreign exchange rates were a key factor for global coatings manufacturers affecting both revenues and potentially driving up prices in
selected local currency markets.
Claudio Rodriguez: Coatings total market grew in 2015 around
5 percent while decorative paints increased 6 percent in liters.
During 2015, Sinteplast´s decorative lines grew 12 percent and
is now leading the paint market with a 23 percent share.
CW: Did your company see an increase in
revenue in 2015?
Büchner: Yes, for the full-year 2015, revenue was up 4 percent
to € 14,859 million. A record year for AkzoNobel, with return
on sales at 10. 6 percent and return on investment at 15 percent.
As I look back on 2015, I take great pride in the fact we
continued to be successful doing what we do best – creating
everyday essentials to make people’s lives more liveable and
inspiring. We are using our key strengths – essential ingredients, essential protection and essential color – to help build a
solid foundation for the next phase of the company’s strategy.
Although conditions were challenging during the year, we made
significant progress towards our vision of leading market positions delivering leading performance. We are now a stronger,
leaner, more agile company.
Falder: Yes, in line with our objective to grow organically. We
try to grow at the pace we can improve our business and this
year we grew at just over 6 percent.
Kamieth: BASF’s Coatings division has increased sales by 6 percent compared to 2014. Our sales of automotive OEM coatings saw considerable growth, driven both by currency effects
and by higher volumes in Europe, North America and Asia. For
automotive refinish coatings, we were able to more than offset
weaker demand in South America and Asia through pricing and
positive currency effects. The rise in sales in the industrial coatings business was partly attributable to positive currency effects.
Sales fell sharply in the decorative paints business in Brazil. This
was predominantly the result of a struggling Brazilian economy
in which negative currency effects and overall weak demand offset increased prices.
