The anniversary year will be known as one of the best in Buhler’s history. With CHF 2,160 million (€1,656m) or 21pc more than a year ago, the order intake passed the mark of two billion Swiss francs, although the first quarter was still characterized by the turmoil in the global economy. All three divisions contributed to the growth. The greatest leap of 48pc was achieved by Advanced Materials, followed by Food Processing (+27pc) and Grain Processing (+15pc). This pronounced increase in order intake was especially due to the emerging markets in Asia (+39pc), North and South America (+19pc), and the Middle East (+96pc). Thus, business is now spread evenly across the four main regions – Europe, Middle East/Africa, Asia, and North and South America. A perceptible improvement was also achieved in sales growing 11pc to CHF 1,907 million (+13pc on a currency adjusted basis). The operating result (EBIT) was exceeding sales growth.