Greiner (Kremsmünster / Austria; www.greiner.at) revenues rose 7% last year to reach EUR 1.579 bn for the first time, after all four business units recorded growth “despite more difficult general conditions.” The group said 2017 was marked with high raw material prices, volatile currencies as well as increasing customs and tax barriers. With around 76% of sales, Europe remains Greiner's core market. This is followed by North America and Asia with 10% each.

Commenting on its 2018 outlook, Greiner said the first quarter had progressed “satisfactorily with positive, quantitative growth,” and it will continue to enter into new markets as well as intensively implement its “Plastics for Life” sustainability strategy at the operative companies. It has installed a “sustainability and corporate responsibility officer”, an advisory committee on sustainability and five working groups to tackle ecological issues on plastics.

Greiner was on an acquisition trail last year and said it would pursue its expansion strategy with “vigour.” The family-owned company invested EUR 138m worldwide, including in acquisitions in Russia, Turkey, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Germany. In 2018, Greiner Foam International will take a majority holding in the South African Unifoam joint venture – see Plasteurope.com of 27.02.2013.

In 2017, Greiner Bio-One bought Swedish maker of safe intravenous (IV) catheters Vigmed Holding (Helsingborg; www.vigmed.com). In the same year, the Austrian company bought its distribution partners Vacuette España and Vacuette Portugal – see Plasteurope.com of 28.03.2017. Greiner's aerospace business acquired the specialist for German automotive interior trim CarTrim (Plauen; www.cartrim.de), which has locations in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Germany, to expand competencies in aircraft cabin components. In October 2017, Greiner Perfoam took over the business operations of AME, which is a German specialist in plastic backings lamination.

Last year, Greiner Packaging International also took over the majority shares of packaging specialist Plastic System (Noginsk / Russia), which extended its product portfolio to include larger containers such as buckets – see Plasteurope.com of 10.05.2017. In addition, the company acquired the remaining shares in Turkish joint venture Teknik Plastik, which since then operates as Greiner Packaging – see Plasteurope.com of 25.08.2017.