Industrial Coatings had a good year with revenue increasing 19 percent, mainly due to higher volumes, price realization, the successful integration of the Lindgens Packaging business (acquired in 2010) and the Schramm acquisition (Q4 2011). The drivers for growth in 2011 came from Packaging Coatings’ beverage and food-related businesses and Coil Coatings’ construction and agriculture-related businesses. Packaging continued to grow in Europe and Asia, while Coil grew in the Americas. Specialty Plastics had lower revenue in 2011 due to reduced demand in the wireless and IT segments in Asia. We saw a slight slowing down of activities during Q4 in Europe, while North America continued to be strong. We opened a new Coil factory in Bangalore, India, in the beginning of 2011, to support our growing demand for coil products and we are adding capacity in Songjiang, China, to support the continued growing demand for packaging coatings in China.
Overall, Industrial Coatings showed strong revenue growth of 23 percent in the fourth quarter, supported by the Schramm and SSCP.