Bucher Full-Year Report 2023

With sales at the prior-year level and a high operating profit margin, Bucher Industries once again achieved a return on net operating assets of over 20%. The operating free cash flow was increased and the financial position remains extremely solid.

Sales at prior-year level In the course of the reporting period, demand for our products and services declined in line with the general economic slowdown, and the order intake dropped by 17.8% compared with the high prior-year amount.

Net sales were at the prior-year level, with price increases compensating for the negative currency effects of 4.3 percentage points.

Continued high operating profit margin The operating profit margin was 11.9%, just above the prior year’s good margin. This was due to good capacity utilization, higher production efficiencies as a result of the improvement in the supply chain, and the price increases initiated in the previous year.

Marked increase in profit for the year Compared with the prior year, the profit for the year increased by CHF 21.1 million to CHF 355.7 million, amounting to 9.9% of net sales. The financial result was CHF 12.1 million (2022: CHF -2.4 million) and was characterized by higher interest income and the result of short-term investments, mainly in Brazil, as well as lower negative currency effects.

• • The reduction of the effective tax rate to 18.5% (20.9%) is due in particular to geographical shifts in the taxable income as well as special effects in Brazil.