Akzo Nobel (AMS:AKZA) Strong Profits May Be Masking Some Underlying Issues

Simply Wall St

Sun, February 15, 2026 at 3:25 PM GMT+9 2 min read

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AKZOF

-4.06%

AKZOY

+0.50%

Akzo Nobel N.V.'s (AMS:AKZA) healthy profit numbers didn’t contain any surprises for investors. We think this is due to investors looking beyond the statutory profits and being concerned with what they see.

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ENXTAM:AKZA Earnings and Revenue History February 15th 2026

The Impact Of Unusual Items On Profit

To properly understand Akzo Nobel’s profit results, we need to consider the €655m gain attributed to unusual items. We can’t deny that higher profits generally leave us optimistic, but we’d prefer it if the profit were to be sustainable. We ran the numbers on most publicly listed companies worldwide, and it’s very common for unusual items to be once-off in nature. And that’s as you’d expect, given these boosts are described as ‘unusual’. We can see that Akzo Nobel’s positive unusual items were quite significant relative to its profit in the year to December 2025. All else being equal, this would likely have the effect of making the statutory profit a poor guide to underlying earnings power.

That might leave you wondering what analysts are forecasting in terms of future profitability. Luckily, you can click here to see an interactive graph depicting future profitability, based on their estimates.

Our Take On Akzo Nobel’s Profit Performance

As we discussed above, we think the significant positive unusual item makes Akzo Nobel’s earnings a poor guide to its underlying profitability. For this reason, we think that Akzo Nobel’s statutory profits may be a bad guide to its underlying earnings power, and might give investors an overly positive impression of the company. But the good news is that its EPS growth over the last three years has been very impressive. At the end of the day, it’s essential to consider more than just the factors above, if you want to understand the company properly. So while earnings quality is important, it’s equally important to consider the risks facing Akzo Nobel at this point in time. For instance, we’ve identified 3 warning signs for Akzo Nobel (1 makes us a bit uncomfortable) you should be familiar with.

This note has only looked at a single factor that sheds light on the nature of Akzo Nobel’s profit. But there are plenty of other ways to inform your opinion of a company. Some people consider a high return on equity to be a good sign of a quality business. So you may wish to see this free collection of companies boasting high return on equity, or this list of stocks with high insider ownership.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch** with us directly.**_ Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com._

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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