PG
5
FROM THE
CEO’S DESK
Dear friends, colleagues and valued customers,
It is once again that important moment that I get a chance to share with you
the progress we are making in our continuous efforts to meet the market
demands through innovation of products and services. As Crown Paints, our
dominanceinthemarketispassion-drivenandalwayssynonymouswithquality
and lifestyle transformations. Our market leadership ismaintained through
technological innovations thatmeet consumers’ needs.
As an innovationmarket leader, our success is built on enhancing customer
loyalty and retention. Customers are increasingly demanding for a one-stop
shopwhen it comes tosolutions that addressenvironmental, healthandsafety
standards. As these needs keep changing, we have to challenge ourselves and
movewith clients’ demands to remain relevant and competitive in themarket.
We have rolled out a number of innovations including the Crown Colour App,
which enables customers to select their favourite colours on their mobile
phones.
In addition, we have also unveiled eco-friendly paints (the zero VOC range) in
themarket, asa response todevelopers in the regionwhoarenowfollowing the
global trend of constructing usingmaterials that have the least impact on the
environment. Thiswasachievedafter intensiveresearch formanyyears.
Going forward, we will continue to revolutionise products and services that
meet themarket demand, as part of our strategy to drive growth in revenues
and the company’s overall profitability. We have been pioneering products
suchasUltraguardwithSilicone -Africa’s firstwater- repellent andself-cleaning
paint; Timber Master and Cement Putty for exterior finishes and Sparkling
GlassPlaster forarchitectural coatings.
In 2015, the company’s turnover registered a 12% revenue growth to KShs.
6.7 billion from the previous year’s KShs. 6 billion. This was achieved through
unrelenting support fromour stakeholders.We registered43%growth inpre-
tax profit to record KShs. 216million for the year ended 31
st
December 2015
despite the exchange loss of KShs. 265 million. This is a great improvement
considering the devaluationof regional currencies in the East African region in
2015.
The subsidiaries performance has shown significance improvement having
undergone general elections in Tanzania and Uganda that saw a major
slowdown in the construction and trading activities as a result affecting sales
revenuegrowth in2015.However, withelectionsbehindusweexpect improved
showing in these markets, which will also be attributed to the new Kisumu
plant which reduces the dynamics of higher logistic costs of transportation
fromArusha factory to other locations including, Dar es Salaam, Mwanza and
Rwanda.
Thenewfactorybuilt at acost of KShs. 400million increasespaintsproduction
capacity from 2.3 million litres to 3.6 million litres per month enabling us
to provide sufficient paint for the robust construction industry in 2016.
Furthermore,weareencouragedby thegovernment’scommitment tosupport
local companies, which enables us to forecast healthy business growth in the
future.
I want to take this opportunity to thank you for being true toCrownPaints and
most importantly to theBoardofDirectors for their immensesupport indriving
thecompany’sgrowthagenda.
THANKYOU
