With operating margin declining despite an increase in sales Axalta Coating Systems (AXTA), a maker of coatings for auto-body repair shops, wants investors to ignore expenses it used to deduct from its preferred profit metric.

Previously, Axalta used Adjusted EBIT as its preferred non-GAAP profit metric. In its latest annual report, the company replaced the key metric with Adjusted EBITDA which going forward will exclude seven additional expenses from adjusted operating income:

“Adjusted EBITDA excludes impacts of depreciation and amortization, foreign exchange remeasurement, stock-based compensation, non-cash and non-service components of long-term employee benefits and dividends in respect of noncontrolling interests, whereas these items were not excluded from Adjusted EBIT."