In December, PPG completed the divestitures of both the silicas products business and the architectural coatings U.S. and Canada business. These divestitures improve the company's financial profile and position it for sustainable organic growth.

The cost reduction program is focused on reducing structural costs primarily in Europe and in certain other global businesses, along with other corporate costs following the divestitures. This initiative aims to improve operational efficiency and profitability.

Despite macroeconomic challenges, PPG expects to deliver organic sales growth of a low single-digit percentage for the year, driven by demand growth in China, India and Mexico, and continued strength in aerospace coatings.

During the year, PPG successfully executed various strategic initiatives to strengthen the company. These divestitures improve our financial profile, including higher operating margins, and result in a more focused organization which positions the Company to deliver sustainable organic growth.

PPG made significant progress to reduce costs and improve the profitability of the overall business portfolio through the global restructuring programs that were announced in 2022 and 2023. Total restructuring savings were approximately $40 million in 2024.

The Company will carefully monitor all costs during 2025 and assess the need for additional selling price increases.

Our financial results are significantly affected by the cost of raw materials. Raw materials include both organic, primarily petroleum-derived, materials and inorganic materials, including titanium dioxide. These raw materials represent PPG's single largest production cost component.

Demand for our products and services depends, in part, on the general economic conditions affecting the countries and markets in which we do business. Weak economic conditions in certain geographies and changing supply and demand balances in the markets we serve have negatively impacted demand for our products and services in the past and may do so in the future.

We rely extensively on global information technology systems, networks and services, certain of which are managed, hosted, provided and/or used by third parties or their vendors, to conduct our business.

With each of our businesses, an increase in competition may cause us to lose market share or lose customers, adversely impacting our sales volumes, or compel us to reduce prices to remain competitive, which could result in reduced margins for our products.

PPG is currently under contract to supply transparencies, coatings and sealants for use on existing and new commercial, general aviation and military aircraft manufactured by many of the largest global and regional aerospace manufacturers.

Our business relies on continued global demand for our brands and products. To achieve our business goals, we must develop and sell products that appeal to customers.

Cost of sales, exclusive of depreciation and amortization, decreased $426 million due to the following: Moderating raw material costs, Lower sales volume

Selling, general and administrative expenses decreased $10 million primarily due to: Restructuring cost savings, Lower performance-based compensation

PPG made significant progress to reduce costs and improve the profitability of the overall business portfolio through the global restructuring programs that were announced in 2022 and 2023.

The Company seeks to optimize its investment in research and development to create new products to drive profitable growth. We align our product development with the macro trends in the markets we serve, including a focus on sustainability and productivity, and leverage core technology platforms to develop products to address unmet market needs.

In addition to the Company's centralized principal research and development centers (see Item 2. “Properties” of this Form 10-K), operating segments manage their development through centers of excellence.

Vehicle manufacturers continue to develop new safety features such as collision avoidance technology and self-driving vehicles that may reduce vehicle collisions in the future, potentially lowering demand for our automotive refinish coatings.

Over the past four years, the Company used nearly $1.3 billion of cash to repurchase approximately nine million shares of PPG stock, including using $752 million to repurchase shares of PPG stock during 2024.

The Company ended the year with approximately $2.8 billion remaining under its current share repurchase authorization. The Board of Directors authorized $2.5 billion of share repurchases in December 2017 and authorized an additional $2.5 billion of share repurchases in April 2024.

In 2024, PPG marked the 53rd annual per share dividend increase and the 125th successive year of annual dividend payments.

Our sustainability efforts are overseen by the Sustainability and Innovation Committee of our Board of Directors. At the management level, day-to-day implementation of our sustainability initiatives is led by our Vice President, Global Sustainability who coordinates PPG's sustainability programs, integrates these programs into our business and communicates the benefits of our sustainably advantaged products to our customers, shareholders and other stakeholders.

For the year ended December 31, 2024, 41% of sales were from sustainably-advantaged products and processes that we have defined as addressing multiple sustainability benefits, including lower emissions, lower toxicity, energy efficiency, use of renewable raw materials or extending durability.

The PPG Global Supplier Code of Conduct clarifies our global expectations in the areas of business integrity, labor practices, associate health and safety, and environmental management. Our Supplier Sustainability Policy builds upon our Global Supplier Code of Conduct by establishing expectations for sustainability within our supply chain.

Demand for PPG products was mixed by end-use market and geographic region during 2024. Demand for aerospace coatings, which was impacted by mobility restrictions in 2020 and 2021, continues to recover.

Global automotive OEM manufacturers' production decreased by about 1% versus 2023 due to lower demand and extended maintenance periods in the U.S. and Europe.

In 2024, the company incurred wage inflation, which adversely impacted operating costs compared to 2023. There was an ample supply of commodity-related raw materials in all regions, and raw material costs were a favorable impact to our operating costs for 2024 versus 2023.