Sherwin-Williams, PPG, and AkzoNobel 'Stagnant Growth'! Is the 2024 Coatings Industry Really That Tough?

Looking back on the past year, the global economic landscape has been turbulent and unstable, with markets remaining persistently sluggish. Against this backdrop, the coatings industry has likewise faced multiple challenges—including volatile market demand and unstable raw material prices. To counteract profit erosion caused by the adverse economic environment, companies have sought to sustain operations and development by cutting operating costs. Yet in such conditions, few enterprises have managed to escape the predicament of 'zero growth.' 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 residential repaint and industrial coatings—both significantly outperforming market expectations. Demand for packaging and coil coatings was especially robust, delivering double-digit and low-single-digit percentage growth respectively, propelling a modest increase in net sales for the year. 'Although demand across most of our end markets remains volatile, our fourth-quarter performance remained strong,' said Heidi G. Petz, Chairman, President, and CEO of Sherwin-Williams, expressing satisfaction with the company’s results and affirming her confidence in its differentiation strategy: 'We will continue delivering innovative and efficient solutions to our customers.' Yet compared to 2023, Sherwin-Williams’ record-setting $23.1 billion in net sales represented only a 0.2% year-on-year increase—so marginal as to be virtually negligible. According to performance data across Sherwin-Williams’ three business segments: its Paint Stores Group (PSG) posted Q4 net sales of $3.0449 billion—a 3.4% increase—driving corresponding gains in segment 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. 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—including 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 foreign exchange rates, and the impact of asset divestitures, PPG’s annual revenue declined 2% to $15.845 billion—making it the only one among the three industry giants to post a revenue decline last year. Moreover, PPG’s global architectural coatings segment reported Q4 net sales down 7% to $881 million, with segment profit falling 10% to $118 million.

Coating Dialogue | Gu Qinghua of Sherwin-Williams: Collaborative Breakthroughs for Healthy Development—Don’t Let Inferior Products Drive Out the Good

China International Furniture Expo, the Pudong Furniture & Home Living Dual Exhibitions, Shenzhen Home & Furnishing Expo, Guangzhou Home & Furnishing Expo… This year, nearly one hundred domestic furniture and home furnishings exhibitions have taken place consecutively. The bustling crowds at these venues seem to signal one thing: China’s furniture coatings sector is poised for a bottoming-out rebound! But is that truly the case? Gu Qinghua, Sales Director of Sherwin-Williams’ Industrial Wood Coatings Division in China, contends that the market has not warmed up—in fact, conditions have grown even more severe, and the current situation remains far from optimistic. He emphasized: 'Since the lifting of pandemic restrictions, the market has remained extremely sluggish. Not until August did we begin observing signs of stabilization in certain regional markets—but there remains no clear evidence of recovery.' Founded in 1866, Sherwin-Williams—the world’s largest coatings company by sales—is over 150 years old, and wood coatings have long been one of its core businesses. It was once also China’s largest furniture coatings enterprise, having reached RMB 2 billion in sales back in 2006—a milestone no other company has since surpassed. Last year, only two enterprises in China’s furniture coatings market maintained annual sales above RMB 1 billion—and Sherwin-Williams was one of them. It ranked second in the 'Top 30 Chinese Furniture Coatings Companies of 2023,' commanding a 7–8% market share and reaffirming its enduring leadership. This year, when Sherwin-Williams sold its华润 (Huarun) architectural coatings business to AkzoNobel, it retained full control over Huarun’s furniture coatings division—an unmistakable sign of Sherwin-Williams’ high strategic priority for this business line. From the early 'Huarun Cup' Coating Application Competitions to recent odor evaluation initiatives, Sherwin-Williams Huarun has consistently played a pioneering role in China’s furniture coatings industry. Despite shifting industry dynamics, Sherwin-Williams continues to hold the high ground in premium custom furniture coatings. As a leading furniture coatings enterprise, how has Sherwin-Williams confronted shrinking market demand and the disruptive rise of paint-free panels—and blazed a new path forward? At the inaugural 'Dao' (The Way) Forum on China’s Furniture Coatings—hosted by Coating Dialogue—Gu Qinghua offered an in-depth analysis. NO. 1 External Environment: Three Key Challenges 'The overall atmosphere within the industry remains quite positive; every wood coatings brand hopes to carve out new opportunities for survival and growth through its own efforts—even amid adversity.' Gu Qinghua noted that numerous exhibitions have indeed been held this year, with palpable enthusiasm on-site, clearly reflecting each company’s deep commitment to industry advancement. 'This year’s primary challenges stem from external factors,' he pointed out. 'The industry’s stagnation is largely attributable to three external issues.' First, the most serious external challenge actually emerged as early as two years ago: export bottlenecks have brought wood coatings exports virtually to a standstill—or zero. Second, paint-free materials are increasingly prevalent across overall interior design schemes. Stone slabs, metal, glass, and thin-coated large-format panels are being adopted more widely—correspondingly reducing the demand for traditional paints. Third, domestic demand for furniture remains relatively weak. While everyday consumer spending remains stable, consumers show markedly diminished willingness to purchase big-ticket items—such as automobiles and furniture. According to data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics, the furniture industry ranks near the bottom in terms of growth rate among all categories of retail sales of consumer goods—further underscoring the broad-based decline in external demand facing the furniture industry.