Page 19 - Glass Machinery Plants & Accessories no. 3/2018

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Real-time Process & Quality Controls

< year’s figure of 8.2% at 10.1% of net sales. This pleasing
development reflects the positive market environment,
greater production capacity and stable production costs in
the reporting year. The strong operating performance and
exchange rate gains on euro-denominated credit balances
pushed consolidated profit up by an impressive 33.8% to
CHF 57.0 million (2016: CHF 42.6 million), while the Find the one
profit margin climbed to 9.0% (2016: 7.1%).
Cash flow rose by 20.2% to CHF 126.3 million (2016:
CHF 105.1 million), equating to a cash flow margin of you’re looking for
20.0% (2016: 17.5%). Vetropack Group’s investments
were in the fiscal year CHF 67.3 million (2016: CHF 95.8
million). These were mainly directed towards scheduled
among the 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
repairs to a furnace and the installation of a modern
others out there
glass-blowing machine at the Ukrainian plant. New glass-
blowing machines were also put in place at the Swiss,
Czech and Croatian plants, increasing capacity utilisation
of the furnaces and improving production flexibility. In
Italy, meanwhile, Vetropack Group invested a substantial
amount in infrastructure maintenance and in a new sorting
system equipped with powerful inspection machines for
a production line. All investments were fully financed by
the Group’s own funds. Liquid assets grew by CHF 43.9
million (2016: CHF 28.0 million), pushing the Group’s net
liquidity up accordingly to CHF 68.3 million (2016: CHF
16.9 million).
With an equity ratio of 73.8% (2016: 72.0%), Vetropack
Group’s balance sheet remains very healthy.
At the end of the reporting year, Vetropack employed 3,257
members of staff (31 December 2016: 3,243).
As things stand, the Board of Directors and Management
Board expect the packaging industry to continue enjoying
positive market conditions in 2018. Consumption and
demand appear to be stabilising at a slightly higher level.
In this market environment, Vetropack Group looks set
to be able to utilise all its capacity to the full and increase
slightly its net sales. It is anticipating an operating result on
a par with last year due to higher expenses incurred on two
furnace projects. Consolidated profit, by contrast, looks
set to come in below last year’s level, as repeating the high
exchange rate gains seen in 2017 looks unlikely. As in the
past, however, the exchange rate development could have a
significant impact on the Group’s results.
Vetropack Group includes subsidiaries in Switzerland,
TRACEABILITY
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and Italy. WITH UNIQUE BOTTLE IDENTIFICATION
The Board of Directors will propose to the Annual General It’s like DNA for glass: an engraved data matrix code with which
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CHF 7.70) per registered share.
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Delegate of the Board of Directors of Vetropack Group to get ready for Big Data in the Smart Factory.
from 2000 to 2017, be elected as Chairman of the Board of
Directors. He is to succeed Hans R. Rüegg, who has held
this office since 2005.

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