At the end of last year, incoming orders amounted to EUR 6.7 billion, up 3.8% on the previous year. "Both turnover and operating result exceeded our expectations in 2018. This puts us in a good starting position for a challenging economic year in 2019," said Rolf Najork, Member of the Board of Management of Robert Bosch GmbH with responsibility for the Industrial Technology sector and Chairman of the Board of Management of Bosch Rexroth AG. In Germany, the company increased sales by almost 11% to 1.4 billion euros. At 2.1 billion euros (up 10.5%), Bosch Rexroth achieved around a third of its overall result in Europe (excluding Germany). The company performed particularly strongly in the Asia/Pacific/Africa region. At 1.6 billion euros, sales there were almost a fifth higher than in the previous year. Business in North and South America also generated a positive result at 1.1 billion euros (up 8.2%).

Bosch Rexroth can look back on positive development in its Factory Automation, Plant Construction and Engineering and Mobile Applications divisions. According to the company, the main growth drivers in 2018 were mobile hydraulics and factory automation. In addition to its position in industrial and mobile hydraulics, Bosch Rexroth is increasingly developing as a provider of Industry 4.0 solutions with software-based, automated and networked solutions. The company is focusing on digitalization, connectivity and electrification across all its divisions. Last year, Bosch Rexroth invested more than 327 million euros in the development of new products and solutions. This corresponds to over 5% of sales.

Site expansion in China and outlook

In China, Bosch Rexroth began expanding its plant in X'ian in March 2019. With an investment of around 60 million euros, the company is doubling its development and production capacities for connected solutions for the Asian factory automation market.

For the second half of 2019, the company expects economic momentum to slow overall, particularly due to the decline in consumer demand in China since the end of last year. In 2018, the market for industrial hydraulics also benefited from the generally positive economic trend and recorded moderate growth. Bosch Rexroth anticipates slightly weaker growth overall this year, albeit with differences in individual customer sectors. In the mobile hydraulics market in particular, Bosch Rexroth does not anticipate any further growth worldwide.