Ranking: The 25 largest coatings producers in Europe

As it comes with no surprise, Dutch company Akzo Nobel remains the top seed in our ranking. With sales of EUR 9.6 billion, Akzo Nobel is leading by far. Second-ranked is the coatings division of BASF, with almost EUR 4 billion - quite a growth compared to last year, where BASF made 3,2 billion with paints and coatings.

As our map illustrates, the top players of the European coatings industry are located all over the continent. However, there seem to be certain coatings hotspots, namely in Northern and Central Europe.

More information on the companies such as numbers of employees, factories and sales is also available when you click on or hover over the bubbles on the map. Looking at where the sales are earned, it is also noticeable that especially for the biggest players, sales out of Europe seem to be an important part of business. The table shows that the ranks one to four are earning the larger share with their activities outside of Europe. From rank six onwards to the bottom of the table companies announced they are earning their sales mainly or exclusively in Europe in 2017.

Our ranking is based on the annual sales made with coatings. These are included in the annual group sales, but only paints and coatings sales were taken into account. Furthermore, only companies whose headquarters are located in Europe were included in the ranking. Last year’s figures were used, except for very few cases in which figures from 2016 had to be taken.

A look back

Have a look at what changed in the last years with our Top 25 from 2017 and the ranking from 2016.