Miller Magazine Issue: 123 March 2020

24 NEWS MILLER / MARCH 2020 In 2019, Bühler delivered good performance at Group level, increasing the EBIT margin to 7.6% (previous year: 7.1%). Turnover was stable at CHF 3.3 billion while order intake de- creased by 4.6% to CHF 3.1 billion. The newly-formed Consumer Foods segment, which was created after the acquisition of the Haas Group, exceeded expectations and made a material contribution to the good Group results. Bühler increased its investments into inno- vation to a record high, and its financial position remained strong, improving equity ratio. Bühler reports good performance in 2019 The business development in the segments varied wi- dely due to high volatility in some of Bühler’s key mar- kets. While the food and feed markets showed continued demand – specifically, plant-based proteins for meat al- ternatives and malting experienced strong upswings – the automotive, consumer electronics, and architectural glass industries underwent downward trends. As a result, order intake for Grains & Food continued to grow at CHF 1.8 billion (+5.2%), for Consumer Foods it declined slightly to CHF 775 million (-1.7%), and Advanced Materials had to absorb a decline of 32.2% in order intake to CHF 488 million. In regard to turnover, Grains & Food demonstra- ted robustness at CHF 1.8 billion (+0.9%) and Consumer Foods was able to grow its turnover by 2.5% to CHF 774 million. At CHF 649 million, the turnover of Advanced Materials dropped by 8.0%. IMPROVED PROFITABILITY, STRONG FINANCIAL POSITION By consistently managing resources and costs, Bühler improved its productivity and hence increased profitabi- lity. With a clear improvement of its profitability thanks to leveraging the Bühler organization, the new Consu- mer Foods segment compensated for the lowered profit contribution of Advanced Materials. “The new Consumer Foods segment clearly outperformed our expectations,” states Chief Financial Officer Mark Macus. With a Group tax rate of 19.5% (previous year: 20.1%) and a financial result of CHF 2.4 million (previous year: CHF 4.6 million), Bühler’s net profit grew by 7.2% to CHF 202 million (pre-