The Buhler Technology Group recently announced that for the first time in the group's 150-year history, order intake exceeded the mark of 2 billion Swiss francs in business year 2010.

The company said the anniversary year will be known as one of the best in Buhler's history. With CHF 2160 million, or 21 per cent more than a year ago, the order intake passed the 2 billion Swiss francs mark, although the first quarter was still characterized by the turmoil in the global economy. All three divisions contributed to the growth. The greatest leap of 48 per cent was achieved by advanced materials, followed by food processing (+27 per cent) and grain processing (+15 per cent).

This pronounced increase in order intake was especially due to the emerging markets in Asia (+39 per cent), North and South America (+19 per cent), and the Middle East (+96 per cent). Thus, business is now spread evenly across the four main regions - Europe, Middle East/Africa, Asia, and North and South America.

A perceptible improvement was also achieved in sales, growing 11% to CHF 1907 million (+13% on a currency adjusted basis). The operating result (EBIT) was exceeding sales growth.