- A
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Adjusted earnings per share
Basic earnings per share from continuing operations excluding incidentals in operating income, amortization of intangible assets and income tax on these adjustments.
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AGM
Annual General Meeting of shareholders.
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ALPS
AkzoNobel Leading Performance System.
- B
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BBS
Behavior-based safety. A global program run at all AkzoNobel locations.
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Business Partner Code of Conduct
Explains what we stand for as a company, what we value and how we run our business. It brings our core principles of safety, integrity and sustainability to life and shows what they mean in practice.
- C
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The carbon footprint of a product is the total amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused during a defined period, of the product lifecycle. It is expressed in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide equivalents CO2(e) emitted.
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Circular economy
An economic system which is restorative and regenerative by design, and which aims to keep products, components, and materials at their highest utility and value at all times, distinguishing between technical and biological cycles.
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Code of Conduct
Our Code of Conduct defines our core principles and how we work. It incorporates fundamental principles on issues such as business integrity, labor relations, human rights, health, safety, environment and security and community involvement.
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Comprehensive income
The change in equity during a period resulting from transactions and other events, other than those changes resulting from transactions with shareholders in their capacity as shareholders.
- E
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Earnings per share
Net income attributable to shareholders divided by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the year.
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EBIT
EBIT is operating income excluding incidentals.
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EBITDA
Operating income before depreciation, amortization and incidental.
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Eco-efficiency
Eco-efficiency means doing more with less; creating goods and services while using fewer resources and creating less waste and pollution.
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Eco-premium solutions with downstream benefits
A measure of the eco-efficiency of our products. An eco-premium solution is significantly better than competing offers in the market in at least one eco-efficiency criterion (toxicity, energy use, use of natural resources/raw materials, emissions and waste, land use, risks, health and well-being), and not significantly worse in any other criteria. Downstream benefits include a tangible sustainability benefit for our customers.
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EMEA
Europe, Middle East and Africa.
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Emerging Europe
Central and Eastern Europe (excluding Austria), Baltic States and Turkey.
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Emissions and waste
We report emissions to air, land and water for those substances which may have an impact on people or the environment: CO2, NOx and SOx, VOCs, chemical oxygen demand, hazardous and non-hazardous waste. Definitions are in the Sustainability statements section.
- G
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GBS
Global Business Services, which covers functional support activities such as Human Resources, Finance and Information Management, as well as non-product related Procurement.
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GHG
Greenhouse gases, including CO2, CO, CH4, N2O and HFCs, which have a global warming impact. We also include the impact of VOCs in our targets.
- H
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HSE
Health, safety and environment.
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Human Cities
Everything we do for and with society is channeled through our Human Cities initiative. This incorporates AkzoNobel’s Community Program, which encourages and gives financial support for employees to get involved, hands-on, in their local communities; and our “Let’s Colour” program, which uses the power of color to improve people’s lives.
- I
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Incidentals
Incidentals are special charges and benefits, results on acquisitions and divestments, major impairment charges and charges related to major legal, anti-trust and environmental cases.
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Invested capital
Total assets (excluding cash and cash equivalents, investments in associates, the receivable from pension funds in an asset position, assets held for sale) less current income tax payable, deferred tax liabilities and trade and other payables.
- K
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Key value chain (KVC)
Used to map the carbon footprint of our businesses. Key value chains are product groupings with similar footprint characteristics, which are representative of the majority of total business revenue/production.
- L
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LCA
Lifecycle assessments are the basis of our value chain sustainability programs. Eco-efficiency analysis (EEA) is our standard assessment method.
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Loss of primary containment
A loss of primary containment is an unplanned release of material, product, raw material or energy to the environment (including those resulting from human error). Loss of primary containment incidents are divided into three categories, dependent on severity, from small, on-site spill/near misses up to Level 1 – a significant escape.
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Lost time injury (LTI) rate
The number of lost time injuries per million hours worked. Full definitions are in the Sustainability statements.
- M
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Mature markets are comprised of Western Europe, the US, Canada, Japan and Oceania.
- N
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Natural resource use
We do not report specific natural resource use, except water. We do report our use of energy and raw materials.
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Net debt
Defined as long-term borrowings plus short-term borrowings less cash and cash equivalents.
- O
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Operating income
Operating income is defined in accordance with IFRS and includes the relevant incidentals.
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Operational cash flow
We use operational cash flow to monitor cash generation. It is defined as operating income excluding depreciation and amortization, adjusted for the change in operating working capital and capital expenditures.
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Operational eco-efficiency
Refers to the eco-efficiency of our manufacturing operations. Our aim is to improve operational eco-efficiency by reducing the resources used and emissions/waste from our sites during the manufacture of our products.
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OTIF
On-time in-full, referring to customer service.
- P
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P&D Dialog
The Performance and Development Dialog is AkzoNobel’s global performance and appraisal system for employees.
- R
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RD&I
Research, Development and Innovation.
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Regulatory action
We have defined four categories of regulatory action, from self-reported issues (Level 1) to formal legal notifications with fines above €100,000 (Level 4).
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REI
Resource Efficiency Index is gross margin divided by cradle-to-grave carbon footprint. The index measures value created from use of raw materials and energy.
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RobecoSAM assessment
Tthe Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) tracks the performance of global sustainability leaders. The index comprises the top 10 percent in each industry for the 3,400 largest companies.
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ROI (return on investment)
This is a key profitability measure and is calculated as EBIT as a percentage of average invested capital.
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ROS (return on sales)
This is a key profitability measure and is calculated as EBIT as a percentage of revenue.
- S
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Safety incident
We have defined three levels of safety incidents. The highest category – Level 3 – involves any loss of life; more than five severe injuries; environmental, asset or business damage totaling more than €25 million; inability to maintain business; or serious reputational damage to AkzoNobel stakeholders.
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Shareholders’ equity per share
Akzo Nobel N.V. shareholders’ equity divided by the number of common shares outstanding at year-end.
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Supplier sustainability framework
Business Partner Code of Conduct, Supplier Support Visits, Key Supplier Management and Together for Sustainability are all elements of our supplier sustainability framework.
- T
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Total reportable rate of injuries (TRR)
The number of injuries per million hours worked. Full definitions are in the Sustainability statements.
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TSR (total shareholder return)
Compares the performance of different companies’ stocks and shares over time. Combines share price appreciation and dividends paid to show the total return to shareholder. The relative TSR position reflects the market perception of overall performance relative to a reference group.
- V
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VOC
Volatile organic compounds.