Johnstone's Trade Paints

What Johnstone's Trade Paints does

Johnstone's Trade Paints is a UK professional trade paint brand, founded in 1890 and operated today as part of PPG Industries' Architectural Coatings UK & Ireland division (legal entity: PPG Architectural Coatings UK Limited, registered in Birstall, Batley, West Yorkshire). The company produces and supplies a comprehensive portfolio of more than 110 coating products across trade paints, the Woodworks woodcare range, the Stormshield exterior and EWI/render systems, and the Performance Coatings specialist line (floors, metal, hygiene, flame, and graffiti protection). Core technology is centred on water-based and solvent-based paint formulations, a proprietary Voice of Colour tinting system offering 2,000+ trend-focused colours, BBA-certified product systems with stated life expectancies of 8-15 years, and supporting digital tools such as the ColourBox Virtual Room Visualiser and a spectrophotometer-based colour matching service.

The business is a B2B trade model. Products are sold to professional painters and decorators, architects and specifiers, facilities managers, and construction industry buyers through company-owned Johnstone's Decorating Centres and a UK-wide network of approved stockists (including PaintWell, Brewers, Steves Pants, and independent merchants). Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed; professional trade pricing is available to registered trade accounts, and revenue is generated through one-time product transactions rather than subscriptions. The company holds multiple industry certifications (BBA, BS7976, BS1336, EN 13501-1) and pursues brand-building partnerships such as the World Snooker Tour sponsorship. Geographically, Johnstone's Trade is a UK-domestic brand only, with strategic direction and capital controlled by its US-listed parent PPG Industries.

Name

Johnstone's Trade Paints

Legal name

PPG Architectural Coatings UK Limited

Website

https://johnstonestrade.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1890

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Johnstone's Trade Paints is a UK professional trade paint brand (founded 1890) and a subsidiary of PPG Industries. It supplies 110+ coating products through company-owned Decorating Centres and approved stockists to painters, decorators, architects, and facilities managers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Trade Paints and Architectural Coatings

NAICS

Paint and Coating Manufacturing (32551), Paint and Coating Manufacturing (325510), Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing (3255)

SIC

Paints, Varnishes, Lacquers, Enamels & Allied Prods (2851)

akta.pro primary industry

Architectural & Decorative Coatings (IMAEAGAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Wood Coatings & Finishes (IMAEAHAF), Wood Coatings & Finishes (IMAEAGAG)

Keywords

• Trade paints coatings
• Woodcare wood finishes
• Performance coatings industrial
• External wall insulation systems
• Architectural coating specifications

Headquarters

HQ city

Birstall

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Trade Paint Product Sales: Johnstone's Trade generates revenue through the sale of high-performance trade paints, woodcare products, performance coatings, and EWI/render systems to professional painters, decorators, specifiers, and facilities managers. Products are sold through company-owned Johnstone's Decorating Centres and an approved stockist network. Revenue is derived from one-time product transactions rather than subscription models.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Johnstone's Trade manufactures and supplies professional-grade paints, coatings, woodcare, performance coatings and external wall insulation (EWI) systems aimed at the UK trade market. Its core range includes interior emulsions (vinyl matt, acrylic, durable matt, silk, eggshell), exterior masonry paints (Stormshield, Silicone Masonry, Smooth Masonry, Pliolite), woodcare (Aqua Guard, Woodworks varnishes and woodstains), metal and floor coatings, and full EWI render systems, all tintable in 2,000+ colours through its Voice of Colour system. Products are sold through company-owned Decorating Centres and an approved stockist network to professional painters, decorators, specifiers, and facilities managers.

Product overview

Johnstone's Trade Paints is a UK professional trade paint brand, part of PPG Industries since 1890, offering a comprehensive portfolio of coating products across multiple sub-brands and specialized product lines. The core offering includes Trade Paints (interior emulsions, exterior paints, trim paints), the Woodworks woodcare range (varnishes, woodstains, oils), Performance Coatings (floors, metal, hygiene, flame, graffiti protection), and the Stormshield exterior solutions (masonry paints, render systems, EWI). Products span from standard emulsions to advanced technical coatings, with sub-brands like Aqua Guard (durable water-based interior paints), specific product lines for floor coatings, metal protection, and specialized primers/undercoats. The company also provides colour services including a virtual room visualiser and spectrophotometer-based colour matching, supporting over 2000 colours through their tinting system.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Performance Coatings: Best-in-class products and finishes for specialist applications including floors, metal, hygiene, flame, and graffiti coatings.
• Woodworks
• Stormshield
• Stormshield E.W.I.
• Colourbox
• Voice of Colour

Products and services

• Trade Paints Comprehensive range of high-performance interior and exterior trade paints for professional painters and decorators, including vinyl matt emulsions (Covaplus, Perfect Matt, Cleanable Matt, UltraLast Matt, Stainaway Matt, Obliterate Matt), acrylic durable matt, vinyl silk, acrylic eggshell, dry-lining paint, and exterior trim and masonry finishes. Covers interior walls and ceilings, exterior masonry, and woodwork/metal trim across residential and commercial properties.
• Woodworks Woodcare Range Woodcare range offering comprehensive systems for maximum wood protection and optimum finish for interior and exterior use, including varnishes (polyurethane varnish gloss/satin, water-based polyurethane varnish satin, floor varnish), woodstains (Classic Matt Woodstain, Satin Woodstain), oils (Danish Oil, Teak Oil), and accessories (Knotting Solution). Designed for professional decorators specifying wood finishes on joinery, floors, and furniture.
• Stormshield Exterior Masonry and EWI Systems High-performance exterior coating solutions with BBA-approved extended life expectancies from 8 to 15 years, including masonry paints (Smooth Masonry, Silicone Masonry, Pliolite Masonry, Sol Silicate Masonry, Flexible Exterior Satin/Gloss), stabilising solutions, and full external wall insulation/render systems (Full Silicone Render, Silicone Enhanced Render, with primers and basecoats). Designed for professional application on building exteriors in residential, commercial, and institutional settings, including application in temperatures as low as -5°C with Pliolite and rain resistance within 20 minutes on Smooth Masonry.
• Performance Coatings Best-in-class products and finishes for specialist applications including floor coatings (Flortred, Quick Dry Polyurethane Flortred, 2 Pack Epoxy Water-Based and Solvent-Based Floor Paint, Anti-Slip Floor Paint, Anti-Slip Additive), metal protection (Smooth Metal Paint, Quick Drying Steel & Cladding Topcoat, Quick Drying Metal Primer, Quick Dry Zinc Phosphate Primer, Steel & Cladding Semi-Gloss Topcoat, Agricultural Oxide), hygiene (Stop-Mould interior emulsion), and primers/undercoats for difficult substrates (Advanced Multi-Surface Primer, 2 Pack Adhesion Promoting Primer, Ultra Primer Sealer, Stain Block Primer, Alkali Resisting Primer, Ultra Primer & Finish). Targets commercial and industrial maintenance applications requiring durability, chemical resistance, slip resistance, and corrosion protection.
• Aqua Guard Water-Based Paints Most durable water-based paint system for interior and exterior wood and metal, featuring microporous Surface Protection Technology, UV resistance, low odour, and quick-drying characteristics. The range includes interior Durable Satin/Gloss/Matt Finishes, Aqua Guard Primer Undercoat, Aqua Guard Exterior Primer Undercoat, Exterior Satin, Exterior Gloss, and Aqua Water-Based Satin/Gloss/Undercoat variants. Designed for professional decorators seeking durable water-based alternatives to traditional solvent-based gloss with up to 8 years life expectancy on exterior wood and metal.
• ColourBox Virtual Room Visualiser Online digital tool that allows customers — professional decorators, specifiers and consumers — to virtually paint rooms using Johnstone's paint colour palettes and the latest colour trends, order sample cards, and share designs. Functions as a colour specification and decision-support aid built on top of the Voice of Colour tinting system with its 2,000+ colours.
• Colour Matching Service In-store colour matching service using a spectrophotometer to scan a customer-supplied sample and reproduce the colour within the Johnstone's tinting range. Lets trade buyers, architects and consumers reproduce bespoke colours alongside the standard 2,000+ Voice of Colour palette and NCS-aligned colours.
• Specifier Support Services Dedicated specification support service for architects, specifiers, and project managers, providing technical data sheets, NCS-aligned colour references, BBA certification documentation, sustainability information, and direct advisory support from the Johnstone's Colour Advisory Team ([email protected]). Covers product selection, colour specification, and regulatory/compliance assistance for commercial and residential building projects.

Quantifiable outcome

• Up to 15 years life expectancy on Stormshield products
• +3 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• World Snooker Tour (WST)coreGTM or Marketing PartnerJohnstone's Trade partnership with the World Snooker Tour brings colour and creativity to the world of snooker. The partnership includes venue renovation projects (such as Tradewell Snooker Hall in Hull), player career content, and a nationwide waistcoat design competition in collaboration with STEM Learning to inspire young minds.
• STEM LearningminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with STEM Learning and World Snooker Tour on a waistcoat design competition challenging students to design waistcoats featuring the Colour of the Year, combining creativity, STEM innovation, and snooker excitement.
• Natural Colour System (NCS)coreTechnology or IntegrationJohnstone's has worked closely with NCS for many years to bring customers an extensive collection of colours. NCS is a logical colour order system based on human perception of colour, enabling project managers to collaborate using a common and recognised colour language.
• PPG IndustriescoreOthersJohnstone's Trade is a brand of PPG Architectural Coatings UK & Ireland, which is part of PPG Architectural Coating EMEA. PPG Industries is one of the world's largest suppliers of paints and coatings, founded in 1883 and operating in around 70 countries.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Macpherson Trade: Macpherson Trade is a UK professional paint brand (now under Hempel/Crown) offering trade paints and woodcare products through decorators' merchants, directly competing with Johnstone's for the same professional painter customer base.
• Leyland Trade: Leyland Trade is a sister PPG Architectural Coatings UK brand targeting professional painters and decorators with a comparable range of interior emulsions, woodcare, and masonry paints, often overlapping in stockist availability with Johnstone's.
• Sadolin: Sadolin is a UK woodcare brand (under PPG/Crown) offering woodstains, varnishes, and protective wood finishes to professional decorators, directly overlapping with Johnstone's Woodworks sub-brand in the trade woodcare category.
• Sikkens: Sikkens is AkzoNobel's premium woodcare and architectural coatings brand serving professional decorators and specifiers, comparable to Johnstone's Woodworks and Stormshield ranges in wood protection and exterior durability positioning.
• Crown Trade: Crown Trade is a UK professional paint brand (now under Hempel) offering architectural paints, woodcare, and specialist coatings to trade painters via a similar decorator centre and stockist distribution model, making it a direct peer in the same category.
• Armstead Trade: Armstead Trade is another PPG Architectural Coatings UK trade brand positioned slightly below Johnstone's in price/quality, sharing the same parent, stockist network, and target professional customer segments.
• Dulux Trade: Dulux Trade is AkzoNobel's UK professional paint brand and Johnstone's most direct competitor, serving the same professional painters, decorators, and specifiers through decorator centres and stockists with an overlapping product range of architectural and decorative coatings.
• Sandtex Trade: Sandtex Trade is a PPG-owned UK brand specialising in exterior masonry paints and textured coatings, competing directly with Johnstone's Stormshield masonry and render ranges for the same professional exterior specification projects.

Emerging players

• Farrow & Ball: Farrow & Ball is a premium designer paint brand increasingly specified by architects and interior designers in the UK, competing with Johnstone's Voice of Colour palette at the higher-specifier end, though primarily through showrooms rather than trade decorating centres.
• Bradite Paints: Bradite is an independent UK paint manufacturer offering trade paints and specialist coatings including floor paints and hygienic coatings, competing with Johnstone's Performance Coatings range in the specialist industrial/maintenance segments.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/JohnstonesTrade
• Facebookfacebook.com/johnstonestradepaints

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Johnstone's Trade Paints