Annual Report 1999 - Kemira

colourants goes towards these products.
Customized solutions and flexibility
are increasingly important aspects of
the tinting business. Paint Composer, a
system that enables the user to select
not only the colour of paint but also
its grade or other characteristics, is already
available in a demo and pilot
version at Tikkurila.
Tikkurila’s R&D expenses amounted
to 3.3% of net sales in 1999.
The changeover to the year 2000
took place without problems.
THE FUTURE PROMISES
STRONG GROWTH
The paint industry is one of CPS’s
main client sectors. In some cases the
development of both the paint and
tinting business has been clearly hampered
by the conflict of interest arising
from this dual role. This is why Kemira
has decided to separate these business
areas clearly apart from each other.
How this is to be done will probably
be worked out during the first half of
2000.
The worldwide reorganization of
the tinting business has resulted in a
more market-oriented way of working,
and it is believed that this will bring
positive results. In the years ahead,
strong growth in sales is anticipated in
North and South America as well as
Asia, and the prospects in Europe too
are very favourable. Because marketing
inputs only begin to produce results
over the medium term, CPS has
made outlays on cultivating several
new market areas. The current year is
expected to bring strong growth that
also has good potential further out.
Tikkurila Paints decorative paints
and Tikkurila Coatings’ industrial coatings
have promising growth prospects
in Eastern Europe, especially in Poland
and Russia. Growth within industrial
coatings is also anticipated in the Baltic
countries. The Tikkurila companies
are striving to reinforce further their
position in their existing markets. Concurrently,
Tikkurila is on the lookout
for new business opportunities and
new market areas.
The Valassaari Lighthouse on the west
coast of Finland is the work of Henri
Lepaute, who designed the Eiffel Tower.
Thanks to paints supplied by Tikkurila
Coatings, the graceful structure that
was completed in 1886 will live on for
years.
In the summer of 2000 the European
Swimming Championships will be held
at the Mäkelänrinne Swimming Hall
in Helsinki. Tikkurila Coatings
supplied products that were used in
painting the hall’s ceiling structures,
and Tikkurila Paints’ products were
used on the indoor walls.
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