Business & Money | Sunday 26 April, 2015 4:31 pm |

HEMPEL Paints has opened its newest showroom in Riyadh, its largest in the Middle East. The inauguration falls in parallel of the Group’s 100th anniversary. HEMPEL’s Group President & CEO, Pierre-Yves Jullien flew in to the Kingdom for the special occasion.

The showroom was opened in line with the company’s latest approach toward displaying and offering paint to consumers in an innovative and modern display. This step also marks another stone in HEMPEL’s strategic expansion strategy, which comprises the opening of 24 new showrooms across the Kingdom.
Karsten Pedersen, HEMPEL Paints CEO, Middle East West, said in a welcome note to Mr.Jullien and all esteemed guests: ‘HEMPEL’s showroom in Riyadh spans across 1000 square meters. Its opening tonight comes as part of our strategic expansive plan to open showrooms all over Saudi Arabia, one that stands on the notion of proximity with our consumers, whose needs we aim to cater to, by supporting them geographically, esthetically and by providing them with the highest quality of products.’
He adds on: ‘I’m proud to say that what distinguishes this showroom specifically is not only its design and size, but namely the staff that will join it, as our sales’ team has been trained on the purpose and the importance of colors, each color’s effect on the various designs and how to deal with colors. They have also been trained to help consumers select the best color scheme that suits their interiors.’

From his end, HEMPEL Paints Middle East West Chairman, Eng. Essam Mohammed AlSuhaimi, expressed his belief in the vision that this showroom opening will materialize for the Group, knowing that the Group is one of the largest manufacturers of paints in the Saudi market: ‘Our strategy aims at an expansive outreach whereby we spread to the four corners of the Kingdom to ensure we are close to our consumers’ needs. And as a matter of fact, HEMPEL Paints has opened its new showrooms in Jeddah and Khamis Mushayt in October of last year, notwithstanding that Riyadh’s showroom here, is our largest in the Middle East.’ 
The company had inaugurated, in February 2014, the largest decorative paints factory in the Middle East and their second largest globally in the second industrial city of Jeddah, which sits on 7500 square meters and produces 32 million liters annually. Moreover, it is the first-ever 100% water-based paints’ factory – worth SR 100 million.


It is worth noting that the architectural paint market in the region enjoys an incredible growth stamina and it is valued at SR 3 billion annually. In addition, HEMPEL’s market share is expected to grow over the next 5 years in light of HEMPEL’s commitment to provide its consumers with the highest standards of product and service quality.
HEMPEL has been in the Kingdom for over 40 years, it is widely considered as one of the best decorative paints providers in Saudi Arabia, whose products are currently being used in villas, residential and commercial units and stadiums. This comes in addition to its use in public buildings such as schools, hospitals and airports. 
The Group services the paint market through its showrooms but also provides to large-size companies and contractors around the country thanks to its network of independent distributors and large project sales teams.

HEMPEL was first launched in 1915 by J.C. Hempel who introduced the idea of marine paints. The company then witnessed tremendous growth and development, leading it to become one of the biggest suppliers of marine, protective and decorative paints in the world.
HEMPEL owns today 27 factories, it is present in 80 countries with two headquarters and 6 research and development centers in the region and more than 150 stock points at strategic points the world around. It has witnessed a strong financial development in the past 10 years. Amongst other companies HEMPEL owns Crown Paints, Blome International Inc., Jones Blair and Schaepman. Finally, HEMPEL is a world-leading coatings supplier working in the decorative, protective, marine, container and yacht markets.