Varossieau Suriname N.V.

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What it is

Varossieau Suriname N.V., founded in 1959, is the market leader in paints and coatings in Suriname, producing paint under the Historex brand and forming part of PPG Industries. It also makes and sells ProGold decorating supplies, PPG Industrial and Marine coatings, Rambo wood-treatment paints, and Deltron automotive lacquers.

The company reaches customers through 4 own Decorating Centers and around 150 sub-dealers spread across Suriname — a retail footprint that its competitors have not matched. It also produces under private label for a sister company in French Guiana and supplies the Guyanese market with Historex.

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Who owns it

Varossieau was incorporated on 17 September 1959; since 2007, approximately 51% of its shares have been held by the PPG group. PPG Industries, headquartered in Pittsburgh, USA, is a global leader in coatings, glass, and advanced chemicals.

The minority shareholders are represented by Assuria N.V., Suriname’s largest insurer, under a shareholders’ agreement originally made between SigmaKalon (now PPG) and Assuria; the remaining ~49% of shares trade on the SSX. Trading on the Suriname Stock Exchange does not happen daily but twice a month, on the first and third Thursday.

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Who runs it

The supervisory board is chaired by M. Vos (President-Commissaris); the managing director — the operational chief executive — is R.

Dwarkasing. Ramesh Dwarkasing led the company’s public-facing activities as recently as April 2021, performing the groundbreaking ceremony for a community centre funded by PPG.

A CFO is not separately named in available disclosures; the 2020 annual report identifies a Finance Manager but does not disclose that person’s name publicly. No leadership change has been announced in available sources since 2021.

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The money, in plain words

The company turned over SRD 93.7 million (≈US$93.7 m at the given FX rate) in 2020, up 16.6% from SRD 80.4 million (US$80 mn) in 2019 — revenue growth of 16.6% in one year (our calculation). The cost of goods sold fell by SRD 4.0 million (US$4 mn) in the same period, from SRD 38.0 million (US$38 mn) to SRD 34.0 million (US$34 mn), which means the gross margin widened even as revenue climbed — a healthy combination.

The net profit margin in FY2020 was thin at roughly 1.6% (our calculation, derived from the disclosed dividend of SRD 1.59 (US$2)per share at a 70.1% payout ratio applied to ~677,000 shares); by contrast, in the more stable year of 2018 the company kept about 11 cents of profit from every SRD of sales — a net margin of 11.3% (our calculation: SRD 8.3 m (US$8 mn) profit on SRD 73.5 m (US$74 mn) revenue). The board proposed a dividend of SRD 10.00 (US$10)per share for FY2018, representing a payout ratio of approximately 82%, suggesting management was confident of cash generation.

The FY2020 profit compression reflects Suriname’s severe economic turbulence that year, not a structural deterioration of the business.

The most recent share price recorded on the SSX was SRD 94.00 (US$94)per share, last updated 4 April 2026. On roughly 677,000 shares outstanding (our calculation from dividend disclosures), that implies a market capitalisation of about SRD 63.6 million (≈US$63.6 m) — a market value of roughly 0.7× annual revenue at the 2020 sales level, modest by global paint-sector standards.

Full audited accounts for years beyond 2020 have not been located in available public sources.

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What it is doing now

The SSX broad index surged 355% in 2024 against inflation of only 10.1%, meaning the exchange was largely repricing stocks upward in nominal SRD terms after years of currency weakness. Varossieau was one of the companies whose rising share price contributed to the SSX index gain in 2023.

On the operational side, the company’s website was updated as recently as February 2026, and its four Decorating Centers remain open. No acquisition, major capital project, or leadership change has been announced in publicly available sources since 2021.

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What to watch

• Financial disclosure lag. The most recent audited accounts publicly traceable are for FY2020. Suriname’s shift toward IFRS reporting has been repeatedly delayed; investors cannot properly price Varossieau without current financials.
• Currency risk. Revenue and costs are in SRD; raw materials are largely imported and priced in hard currency. A weaker SRD squeezes margins, as the FY2020 data suggest.
• PPG strategy. PPG Industries is the controlling shareholder and technical backbone. Any change in PPG’s appetite for frontier-market affiliates — through a stake sale or restructuring — would reshape the company’s ownership and governance overnight.
• Exchange liquidity. Only 11,056 shares changed hands across all of 2024 on the SSX, down 4% from 11,501 in 2023 — a reminder that the market is very thinly traded; the quoted price may not reflect a price at which a large block could actually be sold.
• Regional ambition. Varossieau’s stated vision is to become a leading supplier across the wider Caribbean and Guiana region within five years. Progress on exports to Guyana and French Guiana is the clearest near-term signal of whether that ambition is being realised.

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This is news, not investment advice.