Coatings

audited
  • Sales increase by 3% to €3,249 million
  • EBIT before special items considerably up, especially in automotive OEM coatings

In the Coatings division, sales to third parties in 2016 grew by €83 million to €3,249 million. Higher sales volumes in North America and Asia were able to more than compensate for a volumes decline in South America. Prices remained stable overall; negative currency effects in all businesses had a dampening effect on sales.

Sales of automotive OEM coatings grew slightly thanks to higher volumes in North America and Asia. In the automotive refinish coatings business, we observed a slight sales decline as higher prices could only partly offset negative currency effects and slightly lower volumes. The slight sales growth in the industrial coatings business was attributable to higher volumes. Sales fell slightly in the decorative paints business in Brazil, despite significantly increased sales prices. This was mostly the result of overall weak demand as well as negative currency effects.

Coatings – Factors influencing sales
Functional Materials & Solutions – Coatings – Factors influencing sales (bar chart)
Coatings – Sales by region
(Location of customer)
Functional Materials & Solutions – Coatings – Sales by region (pie chart)

We were able to raise EBIT before special items considerably in 2016, especially through the contribution from automotive OEM coatings. Special income came from the sale of the industrial coatings business in December 2016.

Since December 14, 2016, the Coatings division has included the Chemetall business, which was acquired from Albemarle. This has had no significant influence on the result for the reporting year 2016.