Order intake picked up slightly at Emhart Glass in the first half of the year thanks to increased demand for glass container manufacturing and inspection equipment.
Its new inspection machines made a contribution to this growth, which rose from CHF 161 million ($173.1 million) in the same period 2012 to CHF165.8 million ($178.2 million) in H1 2013.
However it said the Chinese market was an exception to its growth and said its overall sales were down from the previous year.
It signed a partnership agreement with Owens-Illinois (O-I) in H1 which will come into force in September 2013. This should add sales of CHF 50 million ($53.7 million) a year in stages up to 2015.
Also in H1, its Sanjin joint venture in China developed a new inspection and a glass forming machine, both of which were launched onto the Chinese market.
The stable market trend is likely to remain the same in H2 2013, although Chinese recovery may not emerge until late in the year, it added.
