Arnhem, the Netherlands, June 14, 2007 - Akzo Nobel CEO Hans Wijers has announced new strategic targets for China which outline the company's ambition to achieve revenues totaling USD 2 billion by 2012.
Rapid expansion in recent years has seen the company significantly increase both its presence and its sales in China, and the chairman - who expects 20 percent of revenues to originate from the Asia Pacific region by 2012 - is confident that this accelerated growth momentum will gain further impetus as the investment continues.
"China is clearly fundamental to our global strategic vision and we are fully committed to expanding our activities in what is one of the world's most important emerging markets," said Wijers. "We have revised our sales target for China a number of times in recent years and this reflects not only the extent of our ambition, but also the confidence we have in the sustainable success of our businesses.
"By hitting our targets we will have quadrupled our revenues in China in well under ten years. We also expect the Asia Pacific region to have almost doubled its contribution towards the company's global revenues in the next five years."
The Board of Management is currently in China, a visit which coincides with the opening of two new plants - a Decorative Coatings facility in Langfang and a Functional Chemicals site producing polysulfides in Taixing - and the chairman added that while Akzo Nobel is actively pursuing leading positions in all its global markets, no hasty decisions will be made regarding acquisitions.
"We have a balanced approach to investing and although we will always keep our financial discipline, we are looking to accelerate growth both organically and through selective acquisitions in order to increase profitability and create value," Wijers continued. "It's all about being fit for the future and firmly establishing ourselves as one of the world's leading and most respected industrial companies."
The last few years have seen significant Akzo Nobel activity in China, where the company's 2006 revenues totaled USD 800 million. As well as recently announcing a EUR 250 million investment for a new chemicals multi-site in Ningbo, Akzo Nobel has also opened new coatings facilities in Suzhou, Langfang, Tianjin and Jiashing, bringing the total number of plants to 22 and the number of employees to almost 5,000.
A key element of this continuing expansion is the company's commitment to sustainability. Akzo Nobel has gone to great lengths to ensure that all its new facilities are constructed to meet the highest applicable standards in areas such as energy efficiency, safety and the environment. The products manufactured at the new polysulfides site in Taixing are also providing eco-friendly solutions for the Chinese construction industry, as they are being used to help improve the effectiveness of double glazing - so contributing to the country's new green building policy.
Concluded Wijers: "Achieving sustainable success, both economic and environmental, is central to our global strategy. We have set ambitious targets, but the emerging market in China is one of our major priorities and we are confident that the refocused company is in a strong position to accelerate profitable growth and create further value for shareholders."
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Note to editors
Akzo Nobel is a Fortune Global 500 company and is listed on both the Euronext Amsterdam and NASDAQ stock exchanges. It is also included on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes and FTSE4Good Index. Based in the Netherlands, we are a multicultural organization serving customers throughout the world with coatings, chemicals and human and animal healthcare products. We employ around 62,000 people and conduct our activities in these four segments, with operating subsidiaries in more than 80 countries. Consolidated revenues for 2006 totaled EUR 13.7 billion. The financial results for the second quarter will be published on July 24, 2007.
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