Fuchs Petrolub SE posted 288 million (U.S. $327 million) in earnings after tax for 2018, up 7 percent from 269 million in 2017.
Mannheim, Germany-based Fuchs reported a 4 percent jump to 2.6 billion (U.S. $3 billion) in sales revenue for 2018, according to the company’s preliminary earnings report issued Thursday.
Europe continued as Fuchs’ most profitable region, with sales of 1.55 billion, a 2 percent increase from 1.52 billion in 2017. Asia-Pacific and Africa enjoyed the largest jump in sales, growing 7 percent to 783 million in 2018 from 733 million the year earlier. North and South America posted sales totaling 409 million, up 4 percent from 2017.
Although the company expects further growth in sales revenue in 2019, it believes its costs will rise. “The one-off income of 2018 cannot be repeated, and the high investments in plants, [information technology], research and development and employees, which will continue in 2019, will lead to higher costs increases rather than increases in earnings,” the company said in its preliminary earnings release.