The business yesterday reported a 16% hike in annual sales to euro 914m for 2012, and said that it is planning to reach euro 1.5bn turnover by the end of 2015.
The growth figures were helped by a 6% expansion in the overall packaging machinery market over the year, while expansion in India, where a new factory opened during the year, and in Africa helped push Bosch’s figures higher.
In addition, Bosch reported that the overall expansion of the pharmaceutical market – which is expected to grow to euro 1.1tn in sales by 2015 from euro 850bn in 2011 – as well as the growing food market were key factors in its expansion.
Speaking this week as the results were announced, Bosch Packaging Technology president Friedbert Klefenz said: “There has been a significant improvement in distribution channels, above all in the emerging markets, enabling both the pharmaceutical and food industries to offer a broad range of products across a large market area.
“Moreover, more and more countries are recognizing that suitable packaging can lengthen the shelf-life of food, thus helping to use resources more efficiently. Packaging is one way of improving the supply of food to millions of people.”
He said that the company expected to growth its share of sales in Africa from 6% last year to around 8% this year and that sub-Saharan Africa would be a particular focus in the years to come.
Production in both India and China, meanwhile, have been boosted by new factory investment – a new facility opened in Goa last year, while Bosch’s facility near Shanghai is due to open a third expansion in the coming weeks. Asian sales currently account for a quarter of Bosch’s turnover.
Klefenz also said that acquisitions would continue to be part of the growth strategy, following on from recent deals for businesses such as Eisai Machinery in Japan and Ampack in Germany last year and Hüttlin and Manesty in 2011.
He predicted further consolidation, saying: “The market is increasingly shifting toward those companies that are in position to offer comprehensive solutions from a single source. This trend will continue to strongly shape our industry in coming years, and is one that we too are prepared to meet head on.”
