The Artemis Group, including also Franke Group and other companies, published its financial results for 2018. The Group closed the last year with a sales growth of 4% and an organic growth of 1.9%. The positive long-term economic development in a number of the Artemis Group’s key markets slowed down after the summer of 2018, which had a negative impact on business performance. Many impairment losses on goodwill, intangible assets, and property, plant and equipment had to be recognized. In addition, the reporting period included high restructuring and start-up costs for the strategic important synthetic-sink production site of the Franke Group in Slovakia, along with two plant closures. The purpose of the significant increase in total investments was to strengthen the operational business of the Franke Group and Feintool Group and to expand the real estate portfolio of the Artemis Real Estate Group. In this context four strategic acquisition were made, among which: Chain Link Services, LP and Facility Solutions Inc. (Franke Group).
Franke Group achieved sales growth with lower profitability in the reported year. It achieved consolidated net sales of CFH 2.12 billion, recording a sales rise of 2%. Organic growth totaled 1.0% for which acquisitions had a positive effect of 1.8%, while currency had a negative effects of 0.8% on growth development. Organic growth varied for the five divisions: while Faber Hoods & Cooking Systems and Franke Coffee Systems achieved strong organic growth, sales of the other three divisions remained stable overall.