PPG Industries Inc. (PPG) announced that its industrial coatings business has published a new brochure for its full line of coatings and pretreatment products used in automotive parts and accessories. In addition to highlighting more than a dozen of coatings and pretreatment products, the brochure describes the benefits of working with PPG’s global network of paint application experts, product development specialists and technical support personnel.
Many brands including SPECTRACRON and AQUACRON liquid primers and topcoats, POWERCRON electro deposition coatings (e-coats) and ENVIROCRON and ENVIROCRYL powder coatings are detailed in the booklet. The Original equipment manufacturers utilize PPG’s transportation coatings, which help them to give their vehicles and their parts a new look while preventing them from corroding.
Recently, PPG announced its first-quarter 2012 guidance. The company expects adjusted earnings to be in the range of $1.75 to $1.80 per share for the quarter compared with $1.40 per share, reported in the year-ago quarter.
After including restructuring expenses and costs associated with acquisition and environmental remediation, the company expects earnings to be in the range of 2 to 7 cents per share. The company anticipates that it will incur pretax restructuring charge of $208 million including cash costs of around $160 million and about $48 million related to the net write-off of specific assets and other non-cash items.
Most of the restructuring activities will take place in Europe. PPG plans to lay off 2,000 employees, mostly in Europe, owing to weak demand.
The restructuring actions are expected to result in annual savings of about $140 million with roughly $40 million and $50 million of savings expected in 2012. According to PPG, the first quarter witnessed improved business conditions due to customer restocking and lower natural gas costs in the U.S.
The company said that the restructuring efforts are part of its strategy to be at par with its competitors around the world. PPG competes with the DuPont Performance Coatings segment of EI DuPont de Nemours & Co. (DD) and BASF Coatings AG.
We currently have a long-term Neutral recommendation on PPG. The stock maintains a Zacks #1 Rank, which translates into a short-term (1 to 3 months) Strong Buy rating.
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