Graham Ruddick 

AkzoNobel chief urges UK to clarify future relationship with EU

CEO says firm, which makes Dulux paint, is committed to UK but desires quick, no-nonsense approach to Brexit negotiations
  
  

Ton Büchner, chief executive of AkzoNobel
Ton Büchner, chief executive of AkzoNobel, said he was keen for the UK to remain part of the single market. Photograph: AkzoNobel

AkzoNobel, one of Europe’s biggest industrial companies, has called for “quick clarity” over the UK’s future relationship with the EU.

Ton Büchner, the chief executive of the company, which makes Dulux paint and employs 45,000 people, said staff had sought reassurances about the company’s future in the UK but that he was committed to its existing investments.

AkzoNobel employs 3,500 people in the UK across several factories and research and development sites. Büchner said it was too early to comment on whether the referendum result would affect future decisions about where to invest but that the company would deal with Brexit.

Büchner said: “As a CEO, what you prefer in situations like this is quick clarity, quick stability so everybody knows the rules, everybody can adapt to the situation on the ground.

“As long as the situation on the ground is unclear people don’t know exactly whether big decisions are going to be right or wrong, so you get postponements [of decisions]. So for us that could be with our customers and it could be with our suppliers.”

He added that he respected the UK’s decision to leave the EU but was keen for it to remain part of the single market.

“We have always said that we will respect any decision that the British people take because that is their decision to take,” said

Büchner, who is Dutch. “But we have always said that we would have preferred that the UK remained part of the EU. That hasn’t changed.

“At the moment I guess there is a lot of question marks about what the arrangement will look like. [The single market] would have been one of the reasons why our desire was to remain part of the EU – to have that free flow of people, goods and services that has benefited the EU so much.”

Büchner said the impact of the vote remained unclear. The weakening of the pound could be beneficial for the company because while most of the Dulux paint it sells in the UK is made there, it exports performance coatings that are used to cover ships, buildings, cans and mobile devices.

He added: “Look at AkzoNobel and look specifically at the UK – we have unbelievably strong brands, we have fantastic market position, we have a great set of people, and we have got several research and development labs in the country that support developments outside. The strength and built-in agility that we have make some confident to say that whatever comes in our direction, we will deal with it.”

Despite Büchner’s confidence, AkzoNobel staff in the UK have expressed concern about the company’s approach after the referendum.

“They have asked us questions and we have clearly told them we are committed to the UK business, we are committed to the UK investments that we have decided upon,”

Büchner said. “We are committed to continue to innovate here, with our research and development centres, and we are committed to the Dulux Academy that we have started up here to make sure that the demand for painters is filled.

“We have signalled very clear commitments to the UK and that will continue to be the case. With that, our employees know they have a stable and solid employer. We have such fantastic brands over here, we have great positions, so it is only logical that we are totally committed to the UK.”

AkzoNobel, which is worth more than €15bn (£12.9bn), is also pressing ahead with a new factory in Ashington, Northumberland.

Büchner explained: “Investments are basically judged on their business merits, what the market is like, how the market will develop, what the products are that we manufacture, and what raw materials we have to import or can get locally.

“For all of these it is simply too early to tell. A lot of people are speculating, are doing scenario planning, and that is all nice. But at the moment we are committed to what we are doing over here.”

With Britain yet to activate article 50 of the Lisbon treaty, which starts the formal process of negotiating an exit from the EU, European politicians and business leaders have been talking about the potential to shift jobs across the Channel. The mayor of Frankfurt visited the City of London last week, promoting the German city as a place for financial service firms to do business.

“I think at the moment there is a little bit of opportunism going on, where people let balloons go up to see what the responses are,” Buchner said. “I think the smart thing to do is to stay calm, do not speculate and just let the politicians do their job. As I said, hopefully they do it quickly. That is my desire. Quick, clear, no nonsense, and just move on with life.”

AkzoNobel’s research and development teams are producing groundbreaking innovations, including an environmentally friendly coating for ships, which allows the owners to save energy and trade carbon credits. They are also working on a new coating for wine-bottle corks, which makes them easier to insert and improves the seal.

“We have a tremendous amount of innovations in the system,”

Büchner said. “The functionality of paint beside the beauty and the colour is something that we keep pushing the boundaries on – whether it is anti-mosquito, whether it is antibacterial, whether it is reflective paints, whether it is paints that in some fashion have an increased insulation.”

  • This article was amended on 27 September 2016. An earlier version used an outdated image.
 

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