In 2020, FOSS had a turnover of 2.15 bn DKK with an organic growth of 3 % and significant growth in the US market as well as in South America, India, China and Australia. Thus, FOSS maintains its solid position as a global market leader in analytical solutions for production optimisation and quality assurance in the agricultural and food industry.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, FOSS has succeeded in servicing customers, maintaining full production and retaining employees - without cuts and refunds related to Covid-19 aid programs.
Several years of industrial development of completely new analytical solutions has, together with a strengthened digital business, provided more flexible and mobile opportunities for maintaining FOSS' high level of service. In 2020, FOSS has received the highest score in customer loyalty surveys in the company's history - despite the limited opportunities for physical presence with customers due to lockdown.
The global strength during the lockdown
2020 was unquestionably a year in which corona and lockdown stole a lot of attention, which was particularly true for the world's many export companies - including FOSS, where the turnover in Denmark accounts for less than 1% of the company's total turnover. For decades, FOSS has strengthened its foundation and presence globally, which proved to be a great strength and competitive advantage for the company during the lockdown. The lockdown has meant a fall in travel activities of 80 %, which placed great demands on a rapid transition especially for sales and service, who succeeded and delivered a strong virtual effort, which in several cases raised the level.
CEO of FOSS Kim Vejlby Hansen elaborates on the past year of lockdown:
“The minimised travel activity has challenged our opportunities to meet with our customers and even more the opportunities to meet new customers. I am proud that we succeeded in creating growth, maintaining full production and avoiding cuts during the global pandemic - without refunds related to Covid-19 aid programs. We have quickly adapted and optimised our normal way of working - within the guidelines of the health authorities – and with great support and understanding from our more than 1,500 employees worldwide. They have maintained focus on our customers and on ensuring that we always meet their needs and add value to their businesses – in other words practical compliance of FOSS values.”
The challenges of the future call for smarter production
For the second year in a row, FOSS digital business has experienced a growth of around 100 %. It is part of a long-term strategy to maintain FOSS' position as a global market leader and to ensure the customers the leading digital solutions on the market. In addition to digital business, FOSS has an exceptional focus on development and innovation. This was reflected last year with the launch of BeerFoss™ FT Go, a measuring instrument for breweries, which has already been followed up at the beginning of this year with two completely new products. One of these being a world-first: MycoFoss™ - the first fully automated instrument for measuring mycotoxins in grain products.
“Once again we break the boundaries of what has previously been possible. This is possible at FOSS because we follow a long-term strategy that prioritises significant investments in new innovation and product development. Our brand new MycoFoss™ is the result of more than five years of targeted development, which was accelerated through the acquisition of Soft Flow in Hungary in March 2016. Soft Flow has added biotechnology to the list of technologies we master at FOSS. Innovation has always been a cornerstone of FOSS, and to be first is not just a fancy "buzzword" in our set of values. It is the core of our work, and we show this with our ground-breaking new analytical solutions and more than 20 products being the first of their kind in the world. This not only benefits the business at FOSS, it helps to improve food quality, minimise waste and ensure a much more sustainable future,” Kim Vejlby Hansen elaborates.
Figures from the FOSS group’s 2020 annual results (m DKK)
| Main figures | 2020 | 2019 |
| Net turnover | 2,149 | 2,155 |
| Operating profit | 526 | 403 |
| Profit for the year | 349 | 319 |
| Other key figures | ||
| Growth in turnover | -0.3% | -3.9% |
| Hereof organic growth in turnover | 2.9% | -4.6% |
| Profit margin | 24.5% | 18.7% |
| Export share | >99% | >99% |
| Number of employees (yearly average) | 1,529 | 1,522 |
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 - which counts the world's 100 largest food companies - 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 scale their business faster and smarter. Nils Foss founded the family-owned company in Hillerød in 1956. Today, FOSS employs more than 1,500 highly qualified people in more than 30 countries with consolidated sales of DKK 2.15 bn in 2020.
Contact
Benjamin Rugholm
Head of External Communications & PR
+45 28 40 95 00 / beru@foss.dk
