Glossary

Basic earnings per share from continuing operations excluding incidentals in operating income, amortization of intangible assets and income tax on these adjustments.

Annual General Meeting of shareholders.

AkzoNobel Leading Performance System, a company-wide continuous improvement program.

Behavior-based safety. A global program run at all AkzoNobel locations.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Net income attributable to shareholders divided by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the year.

EBIT is operating income excluding identified items.

Operating income before depreciation, amortization and incidental.

Eco-efficiency means doing more with less; creating goods and services while using fewer resources and creating less waste and pollution.

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.

Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Central and Eastern Europe (excluding Austria), Baltic States and Turkey.

We report emissions to air, land and water for those substances which may have an impact on people or the environment: CO₂, NO_x and SO_x, VOCs, chemical oxygen demand, hazardous and non-hazardous waste. Definitions are in the Sustainability statements section.

Global Business Services, which covers functional support activities such as Human Resources, Finance and Information Management, as well as non-product related Procurement.

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.

Health, safety, environment and security.

Identified items are special charges and benefits, results on acquisitions and divestments, major impairment charges and charges related to major legal, anti-trust and environmental cases.

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.

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.

Lifecycle assessments are the basis of our value chain sustainability programs. Eco-efficiency analysis (EEA) is our standard assessment method.

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.

The number of lost time injuries per 200,000 hours worked. Full definitions are in the Sustainability statements section.

Mature markets are comprised of Western Europe, the US, Canada, Japan and Oceania.

We do not report specific natural resource use, except water. We do report our use of energy and raw materials.

Defined as long-term borrowings plus short-term borrowings less cash and cash equivalents.

Operating income is defined in accordance with IFRS and includes the relevant incidentals.

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.

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.

Operating income as a percentage of revenue.

On-time in-full, referring to customer service.

The Performance and Development Dialog is AkzoNobel’s global performance and appraisal system for employees.

Research, Development and Innovation.

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).

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.

Tthe Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) tracks the performance of global sustainability leaders. The index comprises the top 10% in each industry for the 3,400 largest companies.

This is a key profitability measure and is calculated as EBIT as a percentage of average invested capital.

This is a key profitability measure and is calculated as EBIT as a percentage of revenue.

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.

Akzo Nobel N.V. shareholders’ equity divided by the number of common shares outstanding at year-end.

Business Partner Code of Conduct, supplier support visits, Key Supplier Management and Together for Sustainability are all elements of our supplier sustainability framework.

The number of injuries per 200,000 hours worked. Full definitions are in the Sustainability statements.

Compares the performance of different companies’ stocks and shares over time. Combines share price appreciation and dividends paid to show the total return to shareholders. The relative TSR position reflects the market perception of overall performance relative to a reference group.

Volatile organic compounds.