Akzo Nobel lowers adjusted earnings forecast citing market uncertainties

By Dimitri Rhodes

(Reuters) -Dulux paint maker Akzo Nobel lowered its core profit outlook for 2025 on Tuesday, citing ongoing market uncertainties and adjusting for exchange rates.

The Dutch paints and coatings maker now forecasts adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of 1.48 billion euros ($1.73 billion) in 2025, down from the above-1.55 billion euros previously forecast.

"It's a 70-million-euro forex translation impact linked to where the currencies are today," Poux-Guillaume told Reuters in an interview, referring to the lower forecast.

"But it's purely a translation effect. We're naturally hedged because we're very local, so at constant currency the guidance hasn't changed, it's confirmed."

AkzoNobel's quarterly adjusted EBITDA dropped 2% to 393 million euros, missing analysts' average estimate of 403 million euros, according to a company-provided consensus.

CEO Greg Poux-Guillaume said in a press release that this drop came amid "significant currency headwinds, due to the strength of the euro and generally tepid markets."

The euro is up 13% so far this year as investors looked for alternatives to U.S. assets and to lower their dollar exposure in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's erratic trade policies.

The group reiterated its mid-term guidance of an adjusted EBITDA margin of above 16% and a return on investment between 16% and 19%.

($1 = 0.8554 euros)

(Reporting by Dimitri Rhodes; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)