Akzo Nobel, the Dutch paints and chemicals company, on Tuesday defended its £8bn ($11.6bn) acquisition of ICI in 2007 after it took a €1.2bn ($1.5bn) impairment charge on the former UK industrial giant because of sharply lower paint sales.

The company saw the volume of paint sold fall by 10 per cent in the fourth quarter, with even steeper declines in Asia, one of the areas where ICI had been strong.