|
Part of AkzoNobel, the world’s largest paints and coatings group, Dulux South Africa, is well positioned for growth after a period of restructuring and re-organisation following its ownership by AECI and then briefly by ICI. Headquartered in Amsterdam and listed on Euronext Amsterdam (Symbol: AKZA), AkzoNobel is a Global Fortune 500 company that regularly features in the top three of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. It has annual revenues of over 14 billion Euros and employs over 55,000 people in more than 80 countries.
A household name in South Africa, Dulux was owned by South African chemicals giant AECI until 2007 when it was acquired by British chemicals group ICI. AkzoNobel acquired ICI at the beginning of 2008, bringing Dulux under the same umbrella as well-known global coatings brands such as Sikkens, International and Eka. With its local headquarters in Alrode, Gauteng, Dulux has a major manufacturing facility at Umbogintwini in Kwazulu Natal and a regional distribution office in Cape Town. 410 staff members are employed across the three sites. It currently locally manufactures or imports around 1,000 product lines for supply to its South African market and export markets in various African countries. CEO, Johann Smidt, who has headed up the company since 2009, is focused on driving growth both in South Africa, in neighbouring countries and elsewhere in Africa, leveraging AkzoNobel’s global muscle.
Apart from supplying the South African market, Dulux also exports through distribution and license agreements to Namibia, Zimbabwe and Ghana and is in the process of establishing a presence in East Africa. Dulux, which is in the South Europe Africa Turkey (SEAT) cluster of AkzoNobel’s Europe Middle East Africa (EMEA) division, focuses mainly on decorative paints, the majority of which are water based. With its shares of the domestic and export market, Duluxis firmly entrenched as the world’s number one paint company in the South Africa paint market.
|
|
