Basic orders - orders with a volume of less than USD 15 million - which are important for sustainable business development, increased by 10% compared to the previous year. The company attributes a positive impetus to the acquisition of B&R, among other things, which enabled the ABB Group to further expand its position in the German market in the area of factory automation. According to the company, it also benefited in particular from the implementation of its next-level Group strategy and the introduction of 'ABB Ability' in March 2017: "ABB Germany performed well last year despite a challenging market environment. Our new digital solution portfolio 'ABB Ability' made a significant contribution to this," said Hans-Georg Krabbe, CEO of ABB Germany. "Through the successful acquisition of Keymile 's communication networks business, we have also strengthened our digital power grid and software portfolio and expanded our market reach in the industrial, transportation and infrastructure sectors."

The divisions' sales figures in detail

At €3.3 billion, sales in 2017 remained at the previous year's level. The increase in sales in the 'Electrification Products', 'Industrial Automation' and 'Robotics and Drives' divisions offset the decline in the 'Power Grids' division. Net profit rose from EUR 149 million to EUR 174 million. Operating cash flow increased by 12% to EUR 286 million. The individual divisions:

• The 'Electrification Products' division recorded a 4% increase in orders. Incoming orders thus amounted to 1.35 billion euros. Sales also increased by 2% to around 1.34 billion euros. Business was primarily driven by the housing construction sector and the expansion of the charging infrastructure for electromobility.
• The 'Robotics and Drives' division was able to increase its order intake by 3%, which amounted to 521 million euros in 2017. Turnover grew by 11% to 538 million euros.
• The 'Industrial Automation' division performed particularly well . Incoming orders increased by 27% to 641 million euros. Almost all business areas contributed to this. At EUR 653 million, sales in 2017 were 16% higher than in the previous year.
• In the 'Power Grids' division, both incoming orders and sales declined. Incoming orders amounted to just under EUR 675 million, which corresponds to a decrease of 13%. Sales fell by 15% to EUR 733 million. The main reason for the decline was the lack of major projects.

At the end of 2017, ABB employed 10,550 people in Germany.