HILLERØD, March 25, 2019. The financial results for 2018 show the best turnover in history for FOSS. It has been a year characterised by investments and expansions for the company.
In 2018, FOSS has had yet another record year, with 2.24 billion DKK in turnover and an annual result of 378 million DKK. The strong result means FOSS has been able to channel still more revenue back into the business, and invest further in innovation. Similar to previous years, the company spent 10% of revenue on research and development in 2018.
Global view
With a rapidly increasing world population and an expanding middle class, the market for high quality foods is growing, especially in the developing economies. FOSS has had an extensive international operation for many years, and in 2018, the global outlook sharpened further.
CEO of FOSS, Kim Vejlby Hansen, elaborates:
“Less than 1% of revenue comes from Denmark today, so even though most of our development may take place in Hillerød, we still need a strong global operation. That means we now have sales and service subsidiaries in 32 countries around the world, including the one we set up in Vietnam in 2018. During the year, we also broke ground for the expansion of a new development facility in Hungary, where we mainly work with especially microbiological analysis.”
Expansions are also under way in Denmark: ”We expand and invest across the world, including Denmark. Later in spring, we will open the doors to 10,000 additional square meters in Hillerød with room for more than 400 colleagues. At that point we’ll have a bit more room for the innovative thoughts again,” notes Kim Vejlby Hansen.
Finally, as part of the growth strategy for 2018, FOSS has doubled its IT capacity with an IT centre in Poland, and the global sales team has grown by 20%. Both initiatives entailed extraordinary costs held within the financial year, which affect the profit for the year negatively. Corrected for these growth initiatives, the operating profit for the year has been better than 2017.
Intelligent solutions for global challenges
In 2018, FOSS has bet further on digital. Digital solutions make FOSS analytics universally useful and connect the customers who produce grain, milk and other foods to their data instantaneously, regardless of time and place. Quick and continuous analysis makes it possible for food producers to follow their production carefully, optimise output and avoid for instance contamination of an entire production batch.
2018 has been a year defined by challenging harvests many places around the world and a nervous international market. But mostly, 2018 has been the year where sustainability reached the mainstream agenda, which excites CEO Kim Vejlby Hansen:
“Now is the time to come up with sustainable solutions for the global climate challenges. Luckily, innovation is part of our DNA here at FOSS, and we are good at thinking in new ways. For instance, when we are able to develop a more detailed way to measure milk quality, which means less milk goes to waste during production, then we can truly make a positive impact on a global scale, given 85% of milk traded on the world market is analysed on a FOSS instrument. It is a massive responsibility and opportunity, which we take very seriously. Further, it is good business to optimise the use of food resources. It’s simply in everyone’s interest."
Global view
With a rapidly increasing world population and an expanding middle class, the market for high quality foods is growing, especially in the developing economies. FOSS has had an extensive international operation for many years, and in 2018, the global outlook sharpened further.
CEO of FOSS, Kim Vejlby Hansen, elaborates:
“Less than 1% of revenue comes from Denmark today, so even though most of our development may take place in Hillerød, we still need a strong global operation. That means we now have sales and service subsidiaries in 32 countries around the world, including the one we set up in Vietnam in 2018. During the year, we also broke ground for the expansion of a new development facility in Hungary, where we mainly work with especially microbiological analysis.”
Expansions are also under way in Denmark: ”We expand and invest across the world, including Denmark. Later in spring, we will open the doors to 10,000 additional square meters in Hillerød with room for more than 400 colleagues. At that point we’ll have a bit more room for the innovative thoughts again,” notes Kim Vejlby Hansen.
Finally, as part of the growth strategy for 2018, FOSS has doubled its IT capacity with an IT centre in Poland, and the global sales team has grown by 20%. Both initiatives entailed extraordinary costs held within the financial year, which affect the profit for the year negatively. Corrected for these growth initiatives, the operating profit for the year has been better than 2017.
Intelligent solutions for global challenges
In 2018, FOSS has bet further on digital. Digital solutions make FOSS analytics universally useful and connect the customers who produce grain, milk and other foods to their data instantaneously, regardless of time and place. Quick and continuous analysis makes it possible for food producers to follow their production carefully, optimise output and avoid for instance contamination of an entire production batch.
2018 has been a year defined by challenging harvests many places around the world and a nervous international market. But mostly, 2018 has been the year where sustainability reached the mainstream agenda, which excites CEO Kim Vejlby Hansen:
“Now is the time to come up with sustainable solutions for the global climate challenges. Luckily, innovation is part of our DNA here at FOSS, and we are good at thinking in new ways. For instance, when we are able to develop a more detailed way to measure milk quality, which means less milk goes to waste during production, then we can truly make a positive impact on a global scale, given 85% of milk traded on the world market is analysed on a FOSS instrument. It is a massive responsibility and opportunity, which we take very seriously. Further, it is good business to optimise the use of food resources. It’s simply in everyone’s interest."
Figures from the FOSS group’s 2018 annual results (m DKK)
|
Main figures |
2018 | 2017 | |||||
| Net turnover |
2.243
|
2.226
|
|
|
|||
| Operating profit |
538
|
564
|
|
|
|||
| Profit for the year |
378 | 421 | |||||
| Other Key figures |
|
|
|||||
| Growth in turnover | 0,8% | 4,9% | |||||
| Hereof organic growth in turnover | 4,3% | 6,9% | |||||
|
Profit margin
|
24,0%
|
25,3%
|
|||||
| Export share |
>99% |
>99% |
|||||
| Number of employees (yearly average) |
1.482 | 1.408 |
About FOSS
FOSS contributes to the sustainable use of our planet’s agricultural resources and thus to the nutrition and health of the people of the world. Through analytics, FOSS adds value to customers by improving food quality and optimising production, from raw material to finished product. By turning measurement into information, businesses can run intelligent, data-driven productions with less waste and bigger yields. FOSS helps food and agricultural producers limit the number of human errors, and scale their business faster and smarter. Nils Foss founded the family-owned company in Hillerød in 1956. Today, FOSS employs 1,500 highly qualified people worldwide, with consolidated sales of DKK 2.24 bn in 2018.
Contact
Communications consultant Anne Sofie Kirkegaard
+45 60 67 79 98 / aski@foss.dk
