28 November 2007
Leading paint manufacturer aims to capture larger share of booming LE 1.2 billion Egyptian paint market

Jotun Paints, one of the world's leading producers and suppliers of paints, coatings and powder coatings, has announced its participation at the upcoming 'Le Marché Exhibition', an annual home furnishings and accessories exhibition, slated to run from November 29 to December 2, 2007, at the Cairo International Conference Centre, Egypt. The leading paint manufacturer plans to showcase its 'Lady' brand of interior paints to target high-end customers who will be present at the event. Jotun's participation is in line with its aggressive growth strategy for the region wherein it aims to capture a larger share of booming LE 1.2 billion Egyptian paint market.

The Jotun stand (Number 55) at the exhibition will carry a theme, which will be based on its widely popular 'Inspiration Centre', a comprehensive store from where customers can draw inspiration for their specific paint requirements. Employing the 'Supply & Apply' concept, Jotun plans to stir the creative imagination of visitors by offering them with a visual platform for exterior and interior paint concepts. The company is the first in Egypt to introduce the 'Do-It-Yourself' (DIY) concept, with a view to encourage clients to bring their ideas to life. Jotun aims to create a greater demand for its premium selection of paints, which will not merely cover but more importantly decorate their homes.

Mohamed Hashem, Decorative Marketing Manager, Jotun Paints, said, "Le Marché is a very important annual home furnishings and accessories exhibition, which will serve as a great platform to showcase our professional range of products to a high-potential audience. The booming market for high quality paints has prompted us to highlight the 'Lady' range as the best among the interior paint brands in the market. Through our participation in high profile events such as the Le Marché Exhibition, we are expecting to steadily move towards achieving our goal of giving enthusiastic home owners inspiring ideas by providing a broader range of specialised products."

Le Marché has served as a platform for displaying the best products available in the market and as a forum for exchanging valuable home improvement ideas and strategies for over 20 years. The exhibition is expected to generate an excellent visitor turnout, which Jotun plans to leverage by promoting its 'Lady' range, a solvent-free acrylic interior paint targeted towards high-end consumers, and Jotashield, a range of exterior paints intended for villa owners. The paint company is also set to feature special painting techniques in their stand, which aims at encouraging homeowners to visit any of the six Inspiration Centres in Egypt.

"Through our dedicated research efforts, we have found out that customers are more often inspired to paint or repaint their homes or offices when they are in a furniture showroom. Based on this insight, we have adopted the concept of our 'Inspiration Centres' in our stand at the Le Marché Exhibition, which will emphasize 'Lady' through special painting techniques done within a complete household set-up. We have also partnered with N.B Khaled Mehrez one of the most famous interior designers in Egypt, who will provide appropriate designs and furnishings to enhance our stand's overall atmosphere by emulating a real-life home setting," concluded Hashem.

The 'Lady' interior paint range has been the result of two years of extensive research conducted through Jotun's Dubai-based regional R&D laboratory, with significant inputs from Jotun Norway. 'Lady' is an innovative interior paint brand, which provides unrivalled home painting solution, targeting discerning female consumers and families. The latest high-quality acrylic paint gives a beautiful matte finish, is easy to clean, does not leave any trace of odour after 6 hours of application and guarantees lasting colours for years. In addition, the solvent-free paint cleans without leaving any spots or affecting the quality of the paint finishing.

Jotun has been active in Egypt since 1987 and is a market leader in providing fully integrated protective, decorative, and powder coating solutions. Over the years, Jotun paints have been used in a number of high profile projects around the world including the Eiffel Tower, Burj Al Arab, China Opera house and Nile City Complex. Locally, Jotun has been a part of a number of renowned projects, including luxury hotels, offices and residential developments and landmarks such as Sofiltel El Gezira, Nile Hilton and Fairmont; the new head office of HSBC in Cairo; Emaar prototype villas in Cairo; the Mena House Oberoi Pyramids and the Grand Museum in Giza.

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About Jotun Paints:
Founded in 1926 in Norway, Jotun - one of the world's leading paint manufacturers established its presence in the Middle East in 1974, with Jotun UAE Ltd. Ever since, Jotun has expanded dramatically throughout the region and is the first paint manufacturer to be awarded the ISO 9001 certification. Jotun has consistently invested in state of the art factories including the recently opened plant in the Al Quoz area of Dubai, UAE - the biggest worldwide for Jotun and the Middle East.

Jotun has been at the forefront in terms of developing products specifically suited to local conditions. Three decades of experience in the Middle East region, has helped the company produce a variety of conventional and specialized coatings - each incorporating the latest technological developments while offering performance with economy - catering to the various product segments and demands of the different markets. Today, Jotun's diverse product range includes Decorative, Protective, Marine, Floor/Concrete Protection and Intumescent coatings, bearing a solid testament to the company's reputation of being truly a single source solution for clients, consultants and contractors alike.

For more information, please contact:
CommuniGate Middle East
PO Box 66861, Dubai, UAE
Tel: +971 4 3988134
Fax: +971 4 3988137
Email: info@communigateme.com
Website: www.communigateme.com

© Press Release 2007