Bucher Emhart Glass reported a decent start to 2021.

The glass container technology supplier reported a renewed increase in the number of orders for glass forming machinery.

It said customers were approving investment projects that had been postponed the previous year, despite many countries still having restrictions in place.

Inspection machines were significantly less in demand, as customers are still more likely to repair their inspection machines than order new ones.

Overall demand increased in particular in America from a low level, which resulted in a markedly higher order intake.
Project postponements in the previous year and delays in deliveries prevented this recovery from being reflected in sales.

It reported order intake of CHF 101 million in Q1 compared to CHF 84 million in the same period last year, while sales this year were CHF 69 million compared to CHF 91 million in the same period last year.

In its outlook it suggested the next few months to bring stronger demand and improved utilisation of production capacities.

But given the low level of capacity utilisation in the first quarter, however, for the year as a whole the division expects to see a year-on-year decline in both sales and the operating profit margin.