GEA's growth outlook and its food, dairy and pharmaceutical equipment portfolio

Second-quarter growth and a higher outlook

GEA's second-quarter 2026 revenue increased 10% year on year, while order intake grew at a double-digit rate. The process-technology supplier attributed demand to dairy farming, dairy processing and food customers. All four divisions contributed to revenue growth, and service revenue increased 8.5%. EBITDA before restructuring expenses rose 15.6%, with a margin of 17.4%.

GEA raised its 2026 organic revenue-growth outlook to 6–8% from 5–7%. Its EBITDA-margin guidance increased to 17–17.4% from 16.6–17.2%, while expected return on capital employed moved to 36–40% from 34–38%. The quarter's reported EBIT was EUR 186.7 million, compared with adjusted EBIT of EUR 196.7 million. These EBIT figures are separate from the EBITDA measure. GEA also announced a share-buyback program of up to EUR 500 million.

The annual baseline and four divisions

For 2025, GEA generated approximately EUR 5.5 billion in revenue, an increase of 1.4% on the previous year. Organic growth, adjusted for currency translation and portfolio effects, reached 3.7%. Order intake increased 6.7% to around EUR 5.9 billion, with organic growth of 9.1%. Fifteen large contracts, each worth more than EUR 15 million, together amounted to EUR 560.6 million, compared with EUR 437.2 million in 2024.

EBITDA before restructuring expenses reached EUR 907.4 million, up from EUR 837.3 million, and the corresponding margin rose from 15.4% to 16.5%. Service operations contributed EUR 2.2 billion and accounted for 40% of revenue, compared with 38.9% a year earlier. Digital solutions generated around EUR 80 million, and New Food contributed approximately EUR 70 million.

GEA reorganized its operations into four divisions at the end of 2025: Pure Flow Processing, Nutrition Plant Engineering, Pharma & Food Applications, and Farm Technologies. Financial reporting under that structure began with the first quarter of 2026.

Assembly and repair in Wisconsin

GEA began operating an 86,000-square-foot fabrication, repair, logistics and training facility in Janesville, Wisconsin, in the United States, in December 2023. The approximately USD 20 million investment provided capacity to complete assembly of separators, decanters, valves and pumps. More than 70 employees worked there when GEA announced the start of operations on Jan 11, 2024. The site is about 80 miles west of Milwaukee and 40 miles south of Madison.

The main production area accommodates mechanical fabrication, equipment repair and logistics. Office spaces form part of the same building, with an open arrangement intended to support communication between employees. Rooftop solar panels, water-reuse systems and a building-management system were included in the project. Other features include LED lighting, electric-vehicle charging and a heating and cooling system designed for efficiency. Azam Owaisi, CEO of GEA North America, linked the investment to serving customers where they operate and establishing a local employer in Janesville.

Pump production in Koszalin

GEA launched hygienic pump production at its Koszalin facility in Poland in November 2024. Production moved from Germany, while Bodenheim retained a complementary role as a Center of Competence for the pump business. That division of responsibilities places manufacturing in Koszalin and engineering, customer collaboration, training and service expertise in Bodenheim. The business also introduced the SalesPro e-commerce platform and planned to transfer spare-parts operations to a central warehouse at the beginning of 2025.

A manufacturing execution system connects production information at the Polish site. Justyna Fudala, its Digitalization Manager, described communication between shop-floor teams and other divisions, alongside the use of 3D glasses for training and support. Head of Production Daniel Steingass said the new layout consolidated tasks previously spread across three workstations. Karsten Becker, Vice President of the Hygienic Pumps business line, identified supply-chain resilience and changing customer product requirements as reasons for reorganizing production.

The freeze-drying factory project

GEA held a groundbreaking ceremony for a pharmaceutical freeze-drying systems factory in Elsdorf, Germany, on Mar 22, 2024. The project carried an investment of approximately EUR 80 million and covered more than 40,000 square metres. All 250 employees at the existing Hürth operation were expected to relocate. At the time of the ceremony, GEA planned to open the new facility in the second half of 2025.

The proposed factory combined modular manufacturing with digital workflows. Mobile production applications, document handling and warehouse tracking formed part of the design. GEA also planned photovoltaic generation, battery storage and the recovery of heat from system test runs, with no natural-gas supply envisaged for the building. Green roofs and rainwater retention were additional planned features. CEO Stefan Klebert, Chief Operating Officer Johannes Giloth and Elsdorf mayor Andreas Heller participated in the groundbreaking. Elsdorf lies in the Rhein-Erft district, around half an hour from Hürth.

Pilot facilities for alternative proteins

A separate USD 20 million New Food Application and Technology Center opened in Janesville on Jul 17, 2025. It became GEA's second center of this kind, following Hildesheim, Germany, in 2023. The facility expanded the Wisconsin campus with pilot equipment for precision fermentation, cell cultivation and plant-based processing. Bioreactors allow customers to examine production processes at pilot scale, while thermal processing and aseptic filling sit alongside downstream separation and formulation equipment.

Membrane filtration, spray drying and centrifugation are among the available technologies. Microbiological, cell-based and analytical laboratory capabilities complete the testing facilities. The center created up to eight specialized positions; the separate existing Separation & Flow Technologies operation employed 74 people. Construction supported approximately 400–500 contractor and subcontractor jobs. Stefan Klebert described the center as an investment in scaling novel foods. At the opening, GEA's North American organization comprised around 1,600 employees across 16 manufacturing, sales, service, training and testing locations.

Automated group milking

GEA introduced its DairyRobot R9600 series for automated batch milking on May 6, 2025. Farms can organize groups around fixed milking times. The R9650 subway arrangement places core equipment in a basement below the milking area. Milking modules, valve plates, milk receivers and sampling components occupy that separate space; plate coolers, compressors, supply units, pumps and filters can also be located there.

Individual animal identification controls an adjustable feeding trough and the dispensing of feed rations. A 3D camera supports attachment positioning, and detached teat cups can be reattached individually. GEA's Inliner Everything system combines cleaning, pre-milking, milking and other stages within the liner. DairyNet software brings milking and feeding information into a common interface, with reports, notifications and remote access through an app. The manufacturer offers the batch-milking arrangements both with and without the subway layout, allowing different configurations of the robots and associated technical equipment.

A planned addition to the valve portfolio

GEA signed an agreement to acquire the business of Hydract A/S, a water-hydraulic process-valve specialist based in Holstebro, Denmark. The agreement was announced on Dec 18, 2025, with completion planned for the end of January 2026. GEA intended to integrate the technology into its Valves & Pumps business unit within Pure Flow Processing.

Hydract actuators use water as their operating medium instead of compressed air. Their valves can occupy intermediate positions for flow regulation and digital process control. At Carlsberg's brewery in Fredericia, the technology has been used for continuous inline blending. GEA's planned portfolio combination covered hygienic and aseptic single-seat, double-seat and control valves. Sören de Boon, Senior Vice President of Valves & Pumps, described the intention to offer hydraulic and pneumatic options with common engineering, automation and service interfaces. Hydract CEO Peter Espersen linked the proposed transaction to extending access to the technology through GEA's industrial organization.

Homogenizers for smaller production lines

GEA presented the complete KOB homogenizer series on Jun 12, 2026. Models 11, 22, 45 and 90 address small and medium-scale production in food, beverages, chemicals and personal-care products, including applications feeding spray dryers. The manufacturer's specifications span capacities from 700 to 18,000 litres per hour and pressures up to 400 bar. Available throughput varies with both the model and operating pressure.

The machines use an optimized crankcase and gear-reducer arrangement. Their drive compartments require neither oil cooling nor forced-air ventilation, reducing the number of auxiliary components. Optional homogenizing valves and wear-resistant materials extend the configuration choices for different formulations. Cleaning-in-place and sterilization-in-place capabilities are available, along with pressure gauges and transmitters for process monitoring. Automation can range from a motor starter to programmable-controller and operator-interface systems. Connectivity options support integration with supervisory control and plant-wide automation, while the compact mechanical layout is intended for new lines and replacement installations.

Marination equipment and filtration

The MultiJector 500 joined GEA's brine-injection portfolio on Apr 21, 2026. It targets small and medium-capacity marination lines processing ham, deli meats, bacon, poultry and fish, succeeding earlier equipment in the 450-millimetre width category. Configurable needle arrangements and a revised drive concept form part of the machine's design. A Modular Injector Filter provides an application-dependent filtration arrangement, including a ScreenFilter option.

GEA also incorporated a belt-removal system and design features for changing needle blocks and switching products. Product Manager Willem Poos connected the development to greater recipe variation, shorter production runs and the need to manage cleaning effort. The wider marination-line arrangement includes defrosting, brine preparation, injection, shaking or tenderizing, and tumbling. The MultiJector 500 and 700 occupy the injection stage within those lines. GEA planned to present the new model at Interpack in Düsseldorf from May 7 to May 13, 2026, following the April announcement.

Laboratory tablet coating

GEA unveiled the ConsiGma FC Lab tablet coater at Interpack in May 2026. The unit handles small batches of 0.5–1.5 kilograms and complements the production-scale ConsiGma Coater range. It adds a coating module to AirConnect, a platform organized around a common core component and interchangeable modules for different process steps. The laboratory configuration supports both drying and coating from one base unit.

The coater works with the AirConnect control module, while washing functions and containment arrangements are optional. GEA describes applications involving standard tablets, mini tablets and unusually shaped products. The equipment uses the same micro-layer coating approach as the larger ConsiGma range. Mark Rowland, Director of Product Management for Pharma Solid Dosage, connected the modular design to laboratory flexibility and formulation development. The platform's intended users include pharmaceutical and nutraceutical developers, animal-health businesses and manufacturers of coated components. The coater's design uses a 360-degree spray application.

A connected beverage-production demonstration

GEA and Siemens announced a planned digital-production demonstration for Hannover Messe on Apr 15, 2026. The presentation was scheduled for Apr 20–24 at Siemens' exhibition stand. An animated beverage-production sequence followed raw-material handling through to filling, using cold-brew coffee and protein drinks as examples. A GSX 260 separator skid connected the physical process-equipment element with digital monitoring tools.

The planned demonstration included edge gateways, GEA Cloud and the GEA Portal. Web applications cover production performance, energy information, equipment condition and predictive maintenance. GEA and Siemens use OPC UA and Module Type Package concepts for modular automation, alongside SIMIT simulation and TIA Portal tools for virtual engineering. InsightPartner assistance systems were also scheduled for demonstration, with pattern recognition and optimization recommendations among their functions. A separate English-language stage session was planned for Apr 22, from 12:25 to 12:40 CEST. SIMIT and TIA Portal support virtual testing of plants and process strategies before physical implementation.

Monitoring evaporation and drying equipment

GEA introduced InsightPartner EvoHDry on Sep 11, 2025, extending condition monitoring to evaporation, drying and liquid-processing equipment. The arrangement collects temperature, pressure, vibration and flow information. Local edge equipment preprocesses the data before further analysis through GEA Cloud and the GEA Portal. App and web interfaces provide equipment-status information and diagnostic results.

The system covers evaporators, spray dryers, pumps and other rotating equipment, including associated peripheral processes. GEA combines algorithms with assessment by certified vibration specialists, who validate diagnostic findings. Angela Yeung, Digital Portfolio and Strategy Lead for Liquid & Powder Technologies, connected the offering to monitoring tailored to the manufacturer's equipment. That equipment-specific approach extends across the main process and peripheral cycles, from vacuum-related operations to cleaning-in-place systems. GEA planned to show the offering at Drinktec in Munich from Sep 15 to Sep 19, 2025. EvoHDry forms part of GEA's Service Performance Partnership, combining digital tools with equipment-service expertise.

Heat-pump research for food processes

The Exquisheat project launched in Brussels in October 2025, bringing together nine partners from six European countries for a 36-month program. GEA announced its participation on Nov 20, 2025. Isabel Osterroth, Senior Director of Sustainable Engineering Solutions, and Kenneth Hoffmann, Heat Pump Application Director, joined the expert panel. The project planned standardized heat-pump solutions around four industrial applications:

• Sanitary hot-water supply.
• Pasteurization.
• Evaporation.
• Cooling.

The work program combines industrial-process analysis with workshops and interviews involving food manufacturers and heat-pump suppliers. Planned outputs include business models, replication studies, practical guides and an online feasibility checklist. Partners include Veolia, Dr. Jacob Energy Research, the European Heat Pump Association, the National Energy Conservation Agency, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Food-Processing Initiative, Galicia's food-industry cluster and Clivet alongside GEA. The consortium's announced work concerns identifying suitable applications and developing reproducible solutions, with stakeholder activities intended to address barriers to adoption.