The order intake of the Swabian machine tool manufacturer increased across the Group by 9.9% to 475.9 million euros (previous year: 433.2 million euros). Of this figure, 217.9 million euros (previous year: 171.7 million euros) was attributable to Germany and 258.0 million euros (previous year: 261.5 million euros) to other countries. Both high-quality entry-level machines from the Hermle Performance Line and the dynamic and precise machining centers from the High Performance Line were in demand. Automation and digitalization modules also played an increasingly important role. The Group's order backlog increased by 18.4% to € 148.0 million as at the end of 2018 compared to the reporting date.

Hermle Group sales grew by 12.7% in 2018 to a new high of € 452.9 million (previous year: € 402.0 million). In Germany, the business volume increased by 11.1% to € 186.8 million (previous year: € 168.2 million) and abroad by 13.8% to € 266.1 million (previous year: € 233.8 million). The export ratio thus increased slightly from 58.2% to 58.8%. The company's capacity utilization remained at the upper end throughout the year.

Good capacity utilization and a favorable product mix with high-quality systems, together with currency gains, had a positive effect on the earnings situation, compensating for rising raw material costs. Overall, the Hermle Group's operating result (earnings before interest and taxes, EBIT) increased by 12.9% to € 111.7 million in 2018 (previous year: € 99.0 million). Earnings before taxes, which included a non-recurring, positive one-off effect of € 4.9 million, increased from € 99.4 million to € 116.6 million. The non-recurring effect resulted from the acquisition of the remaining 51% of shares in the joint venture Hermle-Leibinger Systemtechnik GmbH (HLS) at the beginning of 2018, which necessitated a revaluation of the remaining shares already held by Hermle AG. Adjusted for this influence, pre-tax earnings amounted to 111.6 million euros and the gross sales margin remained roughly stable at 24.6% compared to the previous year. Consolidated net income for the year excluding the valuation effect rose from 73.3 million euros to 82.5 million euros.

On December 31, 2018, the Hermle Group employed 1,251 people. The previous year's figure of 1,086 employees did not include the employees of HLS, whose headcount increased from 85 to 93. In addition, there were new appointments, particularly at the foreign subsidiaries and in Service. The workforce also increased, particularly in production, due to the hiring of trainees who successfully completed their training and the filling of vacant training positions.