UZWIL, SWITZERLAND – An order surge in the North and South American markets was cited as a contributing factor in a strong outlook issued by The Bühler Technology Group. The forecast was offered in connection with the announcement of results for the first half of 2014, which were soft. Sales in the first half of 2014 totaled 1.031 billion Swiss francs ($1.148 billion), down 2.8% from the same period in 2013. By contrast, sales orders received in the first half of 2014 totaled 1.309 billion Swiss francs ($1.458 billion), described by the company as “a substantial and purely organic increase of 12% over a year ago.”

“This positive development is primarily attributable to the revival of the North and South American markets and the continuing stable growth in the emerging markets of China and India,” Bühler said. “Almost all business units contributed to growth. Bühler expects additional potential orders to be generated by the continuous addition to capacities in the Customer Service business. Furthermore, the corporate structure has been streamlined, and production capacities have been consolidated at some locations in Europe.”

Bühler estimated its order backlog at 1.6 billion Swiss francs ($1.782 billion), up 9% from a year earlier and said the order improvement is expected to boost profits as well.