Tetra Pak's net sales for 2013 were AU$16.4b (€11.1b) - up 3.5% from 2012 in comparable terms.
"The combination of strong competition and soft economies in many markets around the globe created a tough business environment for Tetra Pak last year," said Tetra Pak president and CEO Dennis Jönsson. "But despite this, we achieved growth in all areas of our business, with particularly strong performances in processing solutions, capital equipment and technical service."
The secrets of its success? Here are some:
1. Packaging Solutions
Tetra Pak's net sales in packaging solutions were AU$14.2b (€9.6b). The company delivered 178 billion packs to customers worldwide, sending its packaging material volumes up 3% compared with 2012.
Around 27% of this volume came from Tetra Pak's advanced product portfolio, which features a range of shapes, formats and openings designed specifically to meet customer demand for improved functionality, greater brand differentiation or a stronger environmental profile. This compares with a 21% share in 2012, and reflects particularly strong year-on-year growth in Tetra Prisma Aseptic portion packs and Tetra Brik Aseptic Edge 1 litre, up 35% and 75% respectively.
a. Capital equipment
Sales of capital equipment grew 15% from 2012. More than 580 new filling machines were delivered worldwide, led by healthy demand from customers in Greater China and Central & South America.
b. Technical service
Net sales in technical service grew 11% year-on-year, with significant growth in service contracts, which now account for around 25% of the total TS business, compared with 20% in 2012.
2. Processing Solutions
Sales within Processing Solutions reached AU$2.2b (€1.5b) in 2013, up 16% year-on-year, with solid growth in all markets.
Excluding acquisitions, growth was 13%, reflecting a healthy increase in technical sales and service, which climbed 15% year-on-year, and solid gains in new equipment sales to the beverage and prepared food categories, up 19% and 15% respectively.
A large area of success was Tetra Pak's development of scaled-down versions of some of its market-leading processing technologies, including the launch of Tetra Alcross RO Lite?, Tetra Therm Aseptic Flex 1, Tetra Therm Aseptic Drink 1 and Tetra Albatch1?. These products proved particularly popular with customers in emerging markets, and with fledgling businesses looking for robust and reliable processing solutions at relatively low investment costs.
The processing business maintained its position as market leader in filtration systems for milk, cheese and whey applications, with September's acquisition of DSS Silkeborg, a specialist membrane filtration technology company? based in Denmark. This followed the 2012 acquisition of Filtration Engineering. Tetra Pak entered 2014 with important in-house expertise in areas such as reverse osmosis, nano-filtration, ultra-filtration and micro-filtration. The business is now focused on applying and developing these technologies across a range of different processing-related applications.
