Coatings - AkzoNobel

PROFILE
Akzo Nobel is a multinational company
that serves customers around the
world with healthcare products, coatings,
chemicals, and fibers, employing
approximately 86,000 people.
With headquarters in the Netherlands,
the Company has activities in almost
70 countries. Annualized*) sales in
1998 were NLG 30 billion.
Akzo Nobel’s combined fiber activities,
operating as a stand-alone business
under the name Acordis, are being
prepared for demerger. Employing
approximately 18,000 people, Acordis
achieved annualized*) sales of NLG 5.5
billion in 1998.
Akzo Nobel has a two-layer structure:
the corporate center and business
units. At the corporate level, key tasks
are coordinated in such areas as strategy;
finance and control; human
resources; technology; health, safety,
and environment; and information
management.
*) Including sales of the former Courtaulds activities
on a full-year basis.
COMPANY STATEMENT
OUR COMPANY
Akzo Nobel is a multicultural company.
We are market-driven and technologybased,
serving customers throughout the
world with healthcare products, coatings,
chemicals, and fibers.
Akzo Nobel conducts its diversified activities
through business units, which report
directly to the Board of Management.
We maintain a product portfolio with leading
positions in important market segments.
OUR PEOPLE
Akzo Nobel regards people as its most
important resource.
We foster leadership, individual accountability,
and teamwork.
Our employees are professionals whose
entrepreneurial behavior is result-oriented
and guided by personal integrity. They strive
for the success of their own units in the
interest of Akzo Nobel as a global company.
In return, our employees can count on
opportunities for individual and professional
development in an international working
environment. We offer them rewarding
and challenging assignments with room for
initiative.
OUR COMMITMENS
We will focus our efforts on the success
of our customers.
We will provide competitive returns on our
shareholders’ investments.
We will create an attractive working environment
for our employees.
We will conduct our activities in a socially
responsible manner.
OUR AMBITION
To be the first choice of
customers, shareholders, and employees,
and to be a respected member
of society.
Gross cash flow
Operating income before nonrecurring
items plus depreciation of property, plant
and equipment, and amortization of intangible
assets
Cash flow per share
Net income excluding nonrecurring items
plus depreciation of property, plant and
equipment, and amortization of intangible
assets, divided by the weighted average
number of common shares outstanding
Net income (excluding nonrecurring
items) per share
Net income (excluding nonrecurring items)
divided by the weighted average number of
common shares outstanding
Shareholders’ equity per share
Akzo Nobel N.V. shareholders’ equity divided
by the number of common shares outstanding
at December 31
Working capital
Inventories and receivables less current liabilities,
exclusive of dividends
Invested capital
Total assets less cash and cash equivalents
and less current liabilities
Equity
Akzo Nobel N.V. shareholders’ equity plus
minority interest
Net interest-bearing debt
Long-term debt plus short-term borrowings
less cash and cash equivalents
Net debt
Provisions plus long-term and short-term
debt less cash and cash equivalents
Gearing
Net interest-bearing debt divided by equity
Interest coverage
Operating income before nonrecurring
items divided by financing charges
In the computation of ratios, the amounts used
for invested capital and shareholders’ equity
represent averages of the amounts at the beginning
and the end of the year. The 1994 ratios
have been adjusted to reflect the Nobel acquisition
at the beginning of that year.
All (per) share data have been adjusted to reflect
the four-for-one stock split on July 1, 1998.