AkzoNobel’s full-year 2019 results have been announced, and are reported to show its "company transformation on track".

Highlights of the report include: 

• Revenue was flat, with positive price/mix of 4% and acquisitions contributing 1%, offset by 5% lower volumes due to our value over volume strategy
• Adjusted operating income up 24% at €991 million (2018: €798 million) driven by pricing initiatives and cost savings; ROS up at 10.7% (2018: 8.6%); ROS excluding unallocated costs up at 12.0% (2018:10.6%)
• Operating income up 39% at €841 million, including €150 million negative impact from identified items, mainly related to transformation costs and non-cash impairments, partly offset by a gain on disposal following asset network optimization (2018: €605 million including €193 million negative impact from identified items, mainly related to €130 million transformation costs and €57 million one- off non-cash pension costs); OPI margin improved at 9.1% (2018: 6.5%)
• Net income from total operations at €539 million, including €22 million discontinued operations (2018: €6,674 million, including €6,264 million from discontinued operations)
• Final dividend proposed of €1.49 per share.

AkzoNobel CEO, Thierry Vanlancker, commented: “Our 2019 results show we are on track with our transformation. We made good progress, despite higher raw material costs and softer end market demand. Our performance improvement accelerated during the second half of 2019, resulting in business return on sales up by almost 200 basis points to 12.5%.

“We delivered on our commitment and returned €6.5 billion to shareholders, following the sale of Speciality Chemicals. At the same time, we continued to invest in our future. We kickstarted a €50 million investment in our US wood coatings business, completed the acquisition of Mapaero to strengthen our global position in aerospace coatings and expanded our Paint the Future innovation ecosystem.

“The real driving force behind AkzoNobel’s achievements has been our dedicated and diverse colleagues around the world. Together, we remain fully focused on delivering our winning together: 15 by 20 strategy during the year ahead.”