GERMANY - In the first quarter of 2018, the Homag Group's incoming orders increased by 4 percent to a new quarterly record with new orders worth € 415 million (previous year: € 401 million).

The order backlog was worth € 676 million as at March 31, 2018 (3/31/2017: € 534 million), while sales, at € 295 million, were on a par with the high level of the previous year (€ 297 million). EBIT includes a management fee paid for the first time to Dürr. At € 19.7 million, it followed on from the good level of the previous year (€ 20.3 million), while investments in digitization remained high.

The quarter also marked a milestone for Homag as it was awarded in March the largest order in its history valued at over € 60 million. Homag will be installing a smart factory with several production lines and more than 80 individual machines for furniture producer Forte in Poland.

“Our order intake was buoyant, especially in northern and eastern Europe as well as the United States”, explains CEO Pekka Paasivaara. “As expected, due to the SAP rollout in our largest plant in Schopfloch, we delivered fewer systems in the first quarter. As the year proceeds, we anticipate sales and earnings to grow.”