Hempel Celebrates 100 Years

Hempel kicked off the group’s centenary celebrations and invited customers from Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Romania to a party in Athens’ Acropolis Museum on Saturday, May 9.

Hempel has had a permanent presence in Greece since 1952 as Hempel Hellas General Manager, Keld Laursen explained, “For 63 out of the 100 years we have had our feet on the ground in Piraeus and Athens and we are very proud of this. We could think of no better way to celebrate Hempel’s centenary than with our friends in Greece.”

Hempel’s Group President and CEO Pierre-Yves Jullien expanded, “It is fitting – and a real pleasure - that the first significant centenary event is here in Athens . . . Over 100 years the Group has changed significantly in size, in geographical coverage (we serve our customers in 110 countries today) and has expanded into new sectors such as protective and decorative coatings. In terms of earnings, we are in the top tier of our sector. But the marine paints business is where we started and is firmly embedded in our DNA and Greece is the biggest shipping nation in the world.”

An entrepreneur with a vision to protect manmade structures from corrosion and fouling, Jørgen Christian Hempel founded marine coatings manufacturer Hempel in Denmark in 1915.

Today, Hempel claims a place as one of the fastest growing coatings companies worldwide and leads protective and antifouling technology. The company delivered a record net profit of EUR 71 million in 2014.