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was partially offset by a decline in volumes. EBITDA for the year was 4% higher at €1901M (€1,834M yr-on-yr) helped by the performance improvement program, which contributed €276M to EBITDA. As a consequence of the impairment charge of €2106M in Q3 related to Decorative Paints, the company recorded a full-year operating loss of €1244M. Excluding this impairment charge, operating income was €862M positive (€1,145M yr-on-yr).
CEO Ton Büchner said: "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.”
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.
