AkzoNobel announced its Q4 and full-year 2012 results. Revenue for the year was up 5% driven by favorable currencies and pricing, which was partially offset by a decline in volumes. EBITDA for the year was 4% higher at €1,901 million (2011: €1,834 million) helped by the performance improvement program, which contributed €276 million to EBITDA. As a consequence of the impairment charge of €2,106 million in Q3 related to Decorative Paints, we recorded a full-year operating loss of €1,244 million. Excluding this impairment charge, operating income was €862 million positive (2011: €1,145 million).

CEO Ton Büchner

"AkzoNobel delivered a strong set of results in difficult markets, underpinned by the performance improvement program which exceeded our intermediate targets."

Commenting on the outlook Büchner said: "The economic environment remains challenging and we expect no fundamental changes in the trends that we have seen recently in our businesses. We will continue to focus on performance improvements and operational efficiencies in order to benefit from our strong portfolio of businesses with many leading market positions and exposure to growth markets."

Business performance

Decorative Paints was impacted by weaker demand in the European markets.

Specialty Chemicals delivered a robust performance, despite weaker demand in the second half of the year. Performance Coatings recorded a strong performance driven by margin management and operational efficiency actions, despite weaker volumes overall.

Portfolio changes

On December 14, 2012, AkzoNobel announced the sale of Decorative Paints North America to PPG. On December 28, 2012, the company completed the sale of Chemicals Pakistan, which was subsequently deconsolidated. In early 2012, AkzoNobel acquired Boxing Oleochemicals in