Following earlier announcements of Akzo’s intention to divest its Building Adhesives business to Sika and Decorative Paint stores in Germany (no buyer yet), Akzo today announced more details on the impact of these moves on its workforce and office footprint in Germany. Recall that Akzo Nobel has 72 German Paint stores selling paint and third party products to professions. Building Adhesives employs 550 people, of which about two thirds are based in Germany. Akzo Nobel now announced it intends to reduce the number of office locations in Germany from eight to three (Cologne, Hamburg and Stuttgart) and to overall reduce the total number of people employed in Germany by more than 25% to about 2,600. Our View: Today’s press release is no surprise as Akzo already announced at the time of the announcement of the Deco Paints stores divestment intention it would reduce the number of office locations. Recall that Akzo Nobel announced at the time of the 2Q results release it intended to cut costs beyond the € 500m earlier announced profit improvement program that is intended to be completed by end 2013 and the company increased for that purpose guidance of restructuring charges for 2013 from € 205m to € 325m. We retainour Accumulate rating and € 53 target price.