Sherwin-Williams / PPG / AkzoNobel 'Stagnant Growth'! Is the 2024 coatings industry *really* struggling?

Looking back on the past year, global economic conditions have been volatile and markets persistently sluggish. Against this backdrop, the coatings industry has likewise faced multiple challenges—including fluctuating market demand and unstable raw material prices. To counteract profit declines caused by the adverse economic environment, companies have sought to sustain operations and growth by cutting operating costs. Yet in such conditions, few enterprises have managed to escape the 'zero-growth' predicament. On January 30, 2025, Sherwin-Williams, PPG, and AkzoNobel successively released their 2024 financial reports. For the full year of 2024, Sherwin-Williams achieved $23.1 billion in revenue, with net profit rising 12.26% to $2.682 billion. Its core growth drivers were clearly above-market-expectation residential repainting and industrial coatings businesses—especially robust demand for packaging and coil coatings, which posted double-digit and low-single-digit percentage growth respectively, leading to a slight increase in annual net sales. “Although demand across most of our end markets remains volatile, our fourth-quarter performance was still strong,” said Heidi G. Petz, Chairman, President, and CEO of Sherwin-Williams, expressing satisfaction with the company’s results and affirming: “We remain confident in our differentiated strategy and will continue delivering innovative and efficient solutions to our customers.” Yet compared to 2023, Sherwin-Williams’ record-setting $23.1 billion in net sales for 2024 represented merely a 0.2% year-on-year increase—so marginal as to be virtually negligible. Based on performance data from Sherwin-Williams’ three major divisions: its Paint Stores Group (PSG) achieved $3.0449 billion in net sales for Q4 2024—a 3.4% increase year-on-year—driving a corresponding rise in divisional profit. Meanwhile, the Consumer Brands Group (CBG) saw net sales decline 4.3% to $662.2 million, and the Performance Coatings Group (PCG) declined 1.6% to $1.589 billion in net sales. By divesting its silica products business and architectural coatings operations in the U.S. and Canada, PPG increased its net profit by 10% to $1.344 billion last year, while also strengthening its financial position—including raising its adjusted EBITDA margin to 18.1%, enabling sustainable organic growth. Additionally, emerging markets such as Mexico and India delivered better-than-expected contributions; aerospace coatings, protective & marine coatings, packaging coatings, and transportation solutions emerged as new growth engines for PPG—fueling a 6% increase in adjusted earnings per share. Nonetheless, due to slightly lower sales volume, unfavorable exchange rates, and the impact of asset divestitures, PPG’s revenue declined 2% year-on-year to $15.845 billion. PPG was the only one among the three industry giants to post a revenue decline last year. Moreover, the company’s global architectural coatings division reported a 7% year-on-year drop in Q4 net sales to $881 million, with divisional profit down 10% to $118 million.

Global Coatings Single-Champion Rankings Released: Sherwin-Williams Claims 11 Global Sales #1 Titles

As the world’s largest comprehensive coatings enterprise, Sherwin-Williams ranks first globally in market share across numerous coatings sub-segments. According to the "2025 Global Top 30 Architectural & Decorative Coatings Brands Ranking" released by TuJie (Coating World), the global architectural & decorative coatings market was valued at approximately $98 billion in 2024. Among them, U.S.-based Sherwin-Williams secured the top global position once again with $13.0 billion in sales revenue—accounting for 13.27% of the global architectural coatings market. Furthermore, Sherwin-Williams leads globally in market share for retail decorative paints, architectural project coatings, and residential repainting. Sherwin-Williams Paint Stores Group 2024 Business Revenue Breakdown According to materials disclosed at Sherwin-Williams’ 2025 Investor Day, the Consumer Brands Group generated $3.1 billion in sales revenue in 2024. This group exclusively handles retail decorative coatings, sold primarily through large home improvement retailers such as Lowe’s. Meanwhile, the Paint Stores Group achieved $13.2 billion in sales revenue in 2024, with residential repainting, commercial construction, property maintenance, new residential construction, and DIY collectively accounting for 90.5%—approximately $11.935 billion—with residential repainting alone representing about 36%. Sherwin-Williams is also the world’s largest industrial wood coatings manufacturer. Disclosed data shows that its Performance Coatings Group generated $6.8 billion in sales revenue in 2024, of which industrial wood coatings accounted for roughly 18.5% ($1.258 billion, approx. RMB 9.043 billion), commanding a 12.84% global market share in industrial wood coatings. Currently, Sherwin-Williams’ industrial wood coatings business is concentrated primarily in the North American market, but it also holds a notably high market share in Southeast Asia—especially in China. Sherwin-Williams Performance Coatings Group 2024 Business Revenue Breakdown According to disclosed data, the Performance Coatings Group generated $6.8 billion in sales revenue in 2024, with coil coatings accounting for 16% ($1.088 billion), packaging coatings 18.5% ($1.258 billion), and general industrial coatings 23.7% ($1.6116 billion). Globally, Sherwin-Williams holds respective market shares of 16.74%, 25.16%, and 8.48% in these three segments—and ranks #1 worldwide in sales volume across all three. Industrial protective coatings encompass specialized categories including wind turbine coatings, bridge protection coatings, power infrastructure coatings, petrochemical equipment coatings, industrial equipment protection coatings, and offshore platform protection coatings. Investor Day materials indicate that Sherwin-Williams’ industrial protective coatings business generated $1.203 billion in sales revenue in 2024, capturing a 4.30% global market share—and ranking #1 worldwide in sales volume. Other leading players in global industrial protective coatings volume include Jotun, PPG, Hempel, and AkzoNobel. Moreover, sustained growth in operational performance continues to solidify Sherwin-Williams’ global market position.

Sherwin-Williams Reports Record Q4 2024 Earnings

Apr 14, 2026

Sherwin-Williams reported record Q4 2024 results with adjusted EPS rising nearly 10% to $11.33. Despite demand volatility, the company expects mid-single-digit income growth in 2025 through strategic investments.

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