Akzo Nobel India held a conference call on 11 November 2022 to discuss the results for the quarter ended September'22 and way forward. Mr. Rajiv Rajgopal - Managing Director, Mr. R Krishna - Chief Financial Officer and Miss Harshi Rastogi - company secretary of the company addressed the call.

Highlights of the Concall

• Gregoire Poux-Guillaume took over as the new Chief Executive Officer of AkzoNobel w.e.f. November 1, succeeding Thierry Vanlancker. Previous roles include CEO of Sulzer, CEO of GE Grid Solutions (erstwhile Alstom Grid) and Senior Managing Director of CVC Capital Partners

• The company clocked a strong double digit growth across the both paints and coatings businesses. The double-digit topline growth across paints and coatings was led by pricing actions and marketing campaigns for key propositions ahead of festive season.

• The company focus continues to be on improving margins and cost rationalization.

• Akzo Nobel India has signed the letters of intent with the two winners of paint the Future India startup challenge. The startups – HyperReality Technologies and Fluid AI will join the accelerator program where they will have access to AkzoNobel's global experts and resources and will develop a digital value-proposition that can enhance the experience of Dulux consumers in India.

• India's world-famous blue city has been repainted and refreshed by AkzoNobel as part of a major Lets Colour project involving 250 homes. More than 5,600 liters of Dulux paint were used to revitalize the area surrounding the fort. The roofs of more than 100 houses have been coated with Dulux Weathershield Protect, which can help to reduce temperatures by up to 5˚C.

• Decorative paints momentum was led by premium portfolio, robust demand from urban geographies and the conducive real estate sector providing tailwind to projects. Improved demand from infrastructure, oil and gas, automotive and architecture drove coatings growth

• The business has strong order book during the quarter across the infrastructure marine, auto and consumer segments

• The industry experienced with some inflationary challenges as seen previously and coupled with the opex volatility during the quarter. However pricing actions helped the company to grow the gross margins by 19% and gross margin stood at 38.4%

• The company is expanding its Gwalior site for expansion for both powder coating and for paints. Capex is around Rs 100 crore.

• The company is importing around 30-40% of its product from the multiple group companies