AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch paints and coatings maker Akzo Nobel said on Wednesday its core profit rose 8 percent in the third quarter to 243 million euros ($280.7 million), as higher prices and savings offset the impact of rising raw material costs.
Lower volumes and adverse currency effects, however, drove down sales 4 percent, to 2.33 billion euros, continuing the trend from the weak first half of 2018, in which Akzo Nobel's results were significantly hurt by rising input prices.
The company said raw material inflation would continue in the remainder of 2018, but at a slower rate than during the start of the year.
Operating income was in line with the average expectation in a Reuters analysts poll, but revenues missed the estimate of a 2 percent rise to 2.48 billion euros.
Akzo Nobel sold its specialty chemicals unit earlier this year for 10.1 billion euros to a group of buyers led by Carlyle Group, delivering on one of the biggest commitments made in its defence against a 26 billion euro ($32 billion) takeover bid from U.S. rival PPG Industries last year.
At the time, Akzo also promised to increase its return on sales to 15 percent by 2020 and to improve the return on investments to above 25 percent.
Chief Executive Thierry Vanlancker said the company was still on track to meet these goals, although the numbers stood at only 10.4 and 12.6 percent respectively in the third quarter.
Akzo said it would implement additional savings totalling 200 million euros by 2020 to reach the goals, which would lead to one-off costs of 350 million euros in the coming two years.
($1 = 0.8657 euros)
(Reporting by Bart Meijer; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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