Syntegon delivered a solid performance in the first half of 2026, although results differed across its business units. The Food division, which includes the company’s globally leading chocolate and bars operation, recorded slower growth than Pharma. Continued cost pressure encouraged customers to take a more conservative approach to capital investment.
Chocolate and bars face a more cautious market
Demand conditions remained challenging for the segment during the period. Customers continued to manage elevated costs carefully, resulting in longer decision-making cycles and more selective investment. As a result, growth across the broader Food division remained restrained.
Syntegon is addressing these conditions by developing equipment and solutions that improve production efficiency while giving manufacturers greater operational flexibility. The company highlighted increasing customer uptake of its SVX vertical packaging platform as evidence that the strategy is gaining traction. Its latest food processing technology developments also reflect wider food manufacturing trends, including the need to control costs, respond quickly to demand changes and improve line performance.
Syntegon said it is taking targeted steps to manage the current environment and protect its premium margin position in Food. Its approach also aligns with wider food and beverage industry trends, including automation, smarter food and drink packaging and solutions that support food and drink sustainability goals.
“Our first-half results demonstrate Syntegon’s strong operating leverage. Adjusted EBITDA increased more than twice as fast as sales, taking the margin to 16.8 percent,” said Eros Carletti, CFO of Syntegon. “This reflects the stronger earnings contribution from Pharma, operational discipline and continued improvements in project execution.”
CEO Torsten Türling added: “Our Pharma business remains our strongest growth engine. We achieved major new customer wins and market share gains in the expanding biologics market globally and in the United States in particular.”
Innovation responds to industry-wide pressures
Syntegon’s innovation programme is designed to address challenges shared by customers across the sector, including labour shortages, rising operating costs, tighter food and drink regulations and increasingly complex product portfolios. During the first six months, the company introduced next-generation systems incorporating advanced automation, robotics and AI-enabled capabilities. It also expanded lifecycle services intended to reduce total ownership costs throughout a customer’s operations.
These developments reflect the direction of food and drink industry innovation, as manufacturers seek connected equipment that can support productivity, compliance and flexibility. They also respond to changing food and drink consumer trends, evolving food and drink marketing requirements and shifts in food distribution trends that are placing greater demands on speed and responsiveness.
Syntegon recorded group order intake of €964 million during the first half. With a book-to-bill ratio of 1.09 and a record order backlog of €1.3 billion, the company enters the second half with a strong level of secured demand.
Full-year expectations unchanged
The company has maintained its full-year guidance and continues to anticipate further growth alongside margin improvement. Pharma is benefiting from structural drivers such as the expansion of biologics and increasingly stringent regulation. Meanwhile, the Food division remains exposed to more restrained customer spending.
For Syntegon’s chocolate and bars business, the second half of the year should indicate whether investment confidence improves or whether cautious spending remains a defining feature of the market.
