The group significantly increased profits, with income before taxes rising 11.3% to €337.2 million (previous year: €303.1 million), while net operating margin reached to 10.8%, similar to the previous year. Employee headcount also grew, reaching 11,883 world-wide.
Expenditure on research and development rose by 7.5%, year on year, to €318.3 million, meaning that the company’s R&D-to-sales ratio was 10.2%.
In the UK, Trumpf’s sales performance is described as “as impressive as that of the overall company”, but with no figure given, while order intake was £57.1 million, a massive increase of 50% on the previous fiscal year. Preliminary operating profit is given as as £988,239.
Speaking about the group performance, CEO Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller cites the strong global economy, adding that political developments worldwide have had little impact so far on business in Europe, Asia and the Americas. “The prevailing strength of the global economy has been outweighing potential impediments to investing: pledges of protectionist measures, the Chinese government’s approaches to disseminating information, and the UK’s exit negotiations with the European Union. All the same, we do forecast clouds over the investment landscape in the medium term.”
For the UK, managing director Annette Doyle says: “We had an unprecedented high number of new and conversion customers this year and I am certain our focus on providing outstanding service to complement the technical competence of our machines played its part.
“Trumpf is now providing its most comprehensive package ever to ensure our customers get the best return on their investment and we will continue to refine our service provision to ensure it is the best it can possibly be.”
Dr. Leibinger-Kammüller reports that Trumpf had used the past fiscal year to press ahead with its digital business pursuits and the physical expansion of some company sites. Investment rose by 45.6%, year on year, to €200.4 million; half of this was used to construct buildings. In addition to the completion of a production facility in Neukirch, Germany, the company invested some €40 million to build its new logistics centre at headquarters in Ditzingen, Germany, where the company is headquartered. And Trumpf opened an Industry 4.0 demonstration factory in Chicago, investing €26 million for structures and equipment.