AAK Annual Report 2018

40 the Nordics which experienced decreased volumes of low-end semi-speciality products. Special Nutrition continued to grow organically and the positive trend within Infant, Medical and Senior Nutrition continued. Foodservice had a stable year. Chocolate & Confectionery Fats reported an improve- ment in operating profit of 2 percent to SEK 747 million (735). Production capacity, compared to demand, remains stretched for certain high-end products. We continue to make investments to remove bottlenecks and strengthen our supply chain in order to support current and future volume growth of high-end products. Volatility in raw material yields continue to give lower output and higher production costs. This has, however, to some extent been offset by the price development on high-end products being slightly positive during the second half of 2018. Volumes increased by 6 percent. Operating profit per kilo decreased from SEK 1.82 to SEK 1.74 as a consequence of the yield challenge. Operating profit for AAK’s smallest business area, Technical Products & Feed, increased by 85 percent from SEK 84 million to SEK 155 million. This was due to an improved and extraordinarily favorable product mix in our fatty acids business, volume growth in both our feed and fatty acids businesses, and a good performance in our crushing operation. Operations and significant events Business areas The Company’s business areas are Food Ingredients, Chocolate & Confectionery Fats and Technical Products & Feed. Group-wide functions are included in the Group Functions segment. Food Ingredients maintains its strong regional positions, primarily in Europe, the USA and North Latin America, but is gradually strengthening its positions in other regions. Chocolate & Confectionery Fats and Personal Care have world-leading positions, and these will gradually be expanded in an increasingly global arena. Technical Products & Feed has a strong local position in Northern Europe and will continue to focus its growth efforts in these geographic areas through its close links to the Karlshamn factory in Sweden, bringing significant synergy effects. The AAK Way, the company program Our primary focus for our company program, The AAK Way, is to enable the Company to further increase its organic growth. This will be achieved by focusing on five priority areas: “Go to Market”, “Operational Excellence”, “Special Focus Areas”, “Innovation” and “People”. The program is developing according to plan. Company management In November 2017, the Board of AAK AB appointed Johan Westman as CEO and President of AAK AB. He was previously Senior Vice President Europe and Managing Director of the BlankLight division at Shiloh Industries. Shiloh Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: SHLO) with its headquarters in Valley City, Ohio, USA, is a global supplier of innovative solutions to the mobility market and has just over 3,600 employees and approximately SEK 9 billion in revenues. Johan has nearly 20 years of industrial experience in management consulting and the automotive industry. He was CEO and President of FinnvedenBulten AB (publ.) between 2009 and 2014 and CEO of the Finnveden Metal Structures AB division between 2008 and 2014. Before that, he worked for eight years in management consulting for Arthur D. Little. Johan Westman began his role as CEO and Presi- dent on May 1, 2018. Financial goals AAK’s financial goals are to grow faster than the under- lying market and to generate strong cash flows. We also intend to continually improve the return on operating capital. Planned dividend policy The objective of the Board of Directors, taking into account the development of Group earnings, its financial