Set up in 1920, today Barbot is a leading player in the Portuguese interior decorating and refurbishment market.
A brand with history
Barbot was founded by Diogo Barbot in Porto, in 1920, in the aftermath of World War I, with a factory situated in the Santo Ildefonso neighbourhood. It was a family business with a traditional image, the fundamental characteristics of which were rigour, safety and quality. All the printed materials and packaging at the time were marked with its founder’s initials – DB.
Over the next few years, Barbot became firmly established in the market. In 1958, under Carlos Aires Pereira, a new factory was built in Laborim. Four years later, in 1962, with the company now directed by Zaida Barbot, the founder’s daughter, the brand’s most famous paint and current sales leader, Barbot Dioplaste, was created.
The violent fire that destroyed the entire Santo Ildefonso factory in 1981 indisputably changed the history of the brand. That moment marked a new cycle, not only in terms of the company’s management, now led by Carlos Barbot, Zaida Barbot’s son, but also in structural terms. Barbot embarked on a programme of expansion, with the transfer of its premises from Porto to Vila Nova de Gaia in 1982, and developed a policy of acquisitions and partnerships that helped to strengthen the brand and extend its range of products.
As a result of this strategy, by the mid-1980s, the company presented a stronger sales team, capable of covering the country from north to south (Barbot’s first regional office opened in Évora in 1987), its own logistics fleet and greater production capacity.
Throughout the 1990s, Barbot continued to expand, constantly launching new products. This expansion led to a fourfold increase in warehouse area and the opening of a new factory in Canelas in 2002, enabling Barbot to cover the whole country, its modern facilities equipped with advanced technology and offering high levels of responsiveness and competitiveness.
Barbot is currently present from the north to the south of Portugal, with two factories in the municipality of Vila Nova de Gaia, an extended network of resellers and 21 of its own points of sale. However, the company does not work only with the domestic market. Today the Barbot Group sells its products in Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Angola and Cape Verde.
The Barbot Group
Now of a considerable dimension, the Barbot group includes five companies (Barbot Portugal, Barbot Angola, Barbot Mozambique, Barbot Cape Verde and Jallut), clearly demonstrating the importance of this constantly growing brand that already operates on two continents: Europe and Africa.
First in France, through a local distributor, and then in Angola, Barbot began its journey towards internationalisation. In this latter case, Barbot Angola has a factory, as well as a network of five company-owned stores and a professional team that provides personalised support for its customers. Barbot is already the second best selling brand in the paint market, having been able to overcome the difficulties associated with the region.
Since 2009, the story of the Barbot group has also included Jallut Pinturas, a renowned Spanish manufacturer with more than 30 years’ experience, specialising in industrial and decorative paint and colourants for industry and metal finishings. This acquisition clearly marked Barbot’s positioning in the Iberian market, strengthening the company’s international expansion plan.
This explains Barbot’s move into Cape Verde, where it started to operate on 1 April 2011. Taking advantage of the huge potential of the construction and tourism sectors, Barbot Cape Verde now has a factory, with a total area of 2000 m², and aims to be a leading player in paints in that country.
Barbot Portugal also produces and sells the brand Anpal-Sodulax. This brand has its own stores in Viseu, in the Algarve and in Funchal. Anpal-Sodulax resulted from the acquisition by the Barbot group of two paint factories, Sodulax and Anpal, which had been operating in the market since 1964 and 1985 respectively. The Anpal-Sodulax range presents solutions for the construction industry and for anti-corrosion protection of metals. It includes a wide variety of products for use in various sectors of heavy engineering, light engineering, the automotive industry and manufacturing in general, as well as for flooring.