The global recovery in the demand for farm equipment allowed AGCO to increase its net sales by around 12% last year to roughly US$8.3 billion. The figure was helped by a buoyant last three months of the year, with Q4 net sales of around US$2.5 billion up by more than 20% when compared to the same three months of 2016.
Martin Richenhagen, AGCO’s chairman, president and CEO, said the company has worked diligently on cost reduction strategies targeted at purchasing actions, factory productivity as well as new product development during the past few years. “We will continue to make long-term investments to raise the efficiency of our factories, improve our service levels and strengthen our product offerings,” he said.
Over half of AGCO’s 2017 net sales were achieved in the EME (Europe/Middle East) region where net sales rose by over 11% to US$4.61 billion. Most of this growth was achieved in the key markets of the UK, Germany and Italy.
AGCO expects farm incomes to improve modestly this year, driven primarily by better dairy economics and higher 2017 wheat production. Relatively stable industry demand is anticipated across all regions, and the company’s 2018 net sales are expected to climb to around US$9.1 billion.
