Dulux paint maker AkzoNobel to review options for its portfolio in South Asia

AkzoNobel will review its business portfolio in South Asia, with the initial focus on decorative paints, the Dulux paint maker said late on Thursday, as it continues its efforts to cut costs and boost its core coatings business.
Through the business review in the region, which the Dutch company called “ripe for consolidation”, it will explore options like partnerships, joint ventures, mergers or divestitures.
“This strategic review represents a key step towards focusing our portfolio on positions of differentiating scale in key coatings markets,” CEO Greg Poux-Guillaume said in a statement.
AkzoNobel, which has been battling a post-COVID slowdown, rising raw material costs and customer destocking, last year set out a cost-saving plan that included improving the efficiency of its supply chains. It has since announced plant closures in Ireland, the Netherlands and Zambia, to be completed by the end of 2024, and plans to cut more than 5 per cent of its workforce.
In the first half of the year, its decorative paints business in Asia generated 528 million euros ($582.4 million) in revenues and accounted for about 24 per cent of the unit’s total revenue of 2.20 billion euros.
In 2023, the South Asia Pacific region accounted for 12 per cent of AkzoNobel’s annual revenue of 10.67 billion euros.
($1 = 0.9065 euros)