As a pioneer in sustainability and innovation, GF strives for profitable growth and has been offering its customers high added value for over 200 years. Founded in 1802, the Corporation is headquartered in Switzerland and operates 139 companies in 34 countries, 61 of which are production sites. The 15,111 employees of GF generated sales of CHF 3,722 million in 2021.
GF Casting Solutions
GF Casting Solutions has taken a dominant role in sustainable mobility. With its focus on lightweight components, the division is benefiting from the increasing demand for hybrid and electric vehicles in all major regions. This should also lead to a continued increase in sales of electric vehicle components in the coming years. In 2021, orders for electric vehicle components accounted for CHF 430 million or 43% of the division's total order acquisition.
While GF Casting Solutions showed promising signs of recovery in the first half of 2021, the chip shortage led to a significant decline in call-offs globally in the second half. Nevertheless, the division achieved sales of CHF 880 million in 2021, an increase of 17.1% over the previous year.
Organically, sales increased by 15.9%.
The operating result (EBIT) was CHF 5 million compared to a negative EBIT in 2020.
The EBIT margin was 0.5%, above the negative EBIT margin before one-offs of -2.0% in the previous year.
In addition to the reduction in call-offs, the result was impacted by the labour shortage in the USA as well as the strong price increase for raw materials such as aluminium and magnesium.
This can only be passed on again with a time lag of around three months. The increase in metal prices was responsible for about 6% of the growth in turnover.
The new light metal foundry in Mills River (USA) contributed significantly to the division's growth in 2021, and continues to have a full and continues to have a full order book. However, the site, which is still in the start-up phase, was heavily impacted by the above-mentioned factors, which had negatively impacted the site's and the Division's performance.
The new plant in Shenyang (China) is on track to start production at the end of 2022, ahead of schedule. This will enable the division to better serve its customers in the world's largest automotive market, which is in line with the strategic goal of further globalising the business and focusing on lightweight components.
