Krones, the world’s leading manufacturer of filling and packaging technology, continued its stable growth in the first half of 2017. Overall, revenue improved 13.8 % year-on-year to €1,775.2 million. Adjusted for acquisitions, revenue was up 10.2 %. The increase was partly due to a relatively low baseline of sales in the first half of 2016. The strongest revenue growth came in the North and Central America, Asia-Pacific, and South America/Mexico regions in the period from January to June 2017.

Order intake at Krones increased 11.0 % in the first half of 2017 to €1,779.3 million. Adjusted for acquisitions, order intake was up 4.7 % year-on-year. Orders growth in Western Europe and Latin America was higher than overall orders growth. Order intake in China was lower. In the Asia-Pacific, North America, and Middle East/Africa sales regions, order intake was stable. At €1,148.8 million, orders on hand at Krones at the end of June 2017 were up 1.1 % over the year-earlier period.

EBT margin is 6.8 % after six months
Krones improved earnings before taxes (EBT) by 12.8 % to €121.0 million in the period from January to June 2017 despite a highly competitive market situation. As expected, market prices provided no support. By contrast, the Value strategy programme, with which Krones is increasing efficiency throughout the company, had a positive impact. At 6.8 %, the EBT margin for the first six months of 2017 was nearly unchanged year-on-year (previous year: 6.9 %). After taxes, net income was up 10.8 % to €82.4 million. Earnings per share increased from €2.37 in the previous year to €2.64.

The ratio of average working capital for the past four quarters to revenue came to 26.3 %, after 25.5 % in the year-earlier period. However, the ratio is an improvement over the first quarter of 2017 (26.8 %).

The return on capital employed (ROCE) increased to 16.3 % (previous year: 15.6 %). In the period from January to June 2017, the company generated operating free cash flow of -€126.7 million (previous year: -€155.5 million), which is an improvement of around €30 million.

Krones forecast for 2017 is unchanged
The company’s revenue growth target (excluding acquisitions) for the year 2017 as a whole remains 4 %. Profitability should be stable this year. Krones expects the EBT margin to be around 7.0 % for the year 2017. For its third financial performance target, working capital to revenue, the company is forecasting 27 % for the current financial year.

Krones has published the complete half-yearly report online at https://www.krones.com/en/company/investor-relations/reports.php.