Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Financial Analyst Conference 2022 of GF. After almost two years of virtual conference, we are very happy to welcome you here in person. We are holding this conference today as a hybrid event, and therefore, we also welcome all participants in our webcast. Today's presentation to the financial year 2021 will be held by our CEO, Andreas Müller, and CFO, Mads Joergensen . First, Andy will comment on the course of the business of the year 2021, and Mads will give you further details on the financial statements, followed by an outlook of Andy. After the presentation, we are pleased to answer your question. I will give you further instructions later on because we also have participants in the webcast. This conference will be recorded, and you will find a record on our website as of tomorrow.
After this conference, you are invited to an apéro outside in the foyer. Having this said, we will start the conference. Andy, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Daniel. Welcome and thank you for joining us for our Annual Conference here in Zurich, SIX ConventionPoint. I have to admit, it is a great pleasure to see people face to face. The last two years we have conducted many events, and we have spoken, Mads, myself, my presidents of the divisions, to cameras only. I can tell you, it is completely different when you are able to see faces and you get somehow a feedback whether what you say is being recognized, understood or disagreed. Regarding the new strategy cycle, which began in 2021, I'm delighted to say we kicked off many initiatives to bring our corporation forward to become a sustainability and innovation leader. New market segments, such as Battery, MedT ech, and Hydrogen power applications represent only part of GF's newly developed markets and applications.
GF is well on track to achieve its strategic targets, 2025. Slide three. Let's have a look at the sales development in 2021. Sales increased by CHF 538 million- CHF 3.722 billion. The organic growth was 15.9%. Many of GF end markets recovered and in addition showed strong growth. However, the important Aerospace industry remained flat on previous year's level, and the Automotive industry showed a strong demand throughout the year. GF Casting Solutions turned around to a positive EBIT for the full year with a margin of +0.5%. The division was heavily exposed to the erratic call-off behavior of the automotive customers in the second half of the year. During our mid-year conference, we highlighted that this situation was mainly observed in the U.S.
However, over the course of the second half year, we also faced chip shortages and erratic call off behavior worldwide. Raw material and metal prices went up to heights never seen before during the last quarter and negatively impacted the EBIT of the division. GF Machining Solutions nicely leveraged its strong order book and came in with a strongly increased EBIT in the second half of the year. The EBIT of the full year amounted to CHF 47 million, corresponding to an EBIT margin of 5.4%. Let's continue with a more detailed view on the three divisions, slide six. GF Piping Systems focused on growing high-value businesses that address sustainability needs. This focus paid off, and the division achieved a record sales level of CHF 1.971 billion, corresponding to an organic growth of 14.3% for the full year.
The picture on the right illustrates a Stockholm water installation community water treatment facility, which is of a size of 18 km underground of the city. You see a typical application where GF supplies its products, which is a water filtration unit with two automated valves and two pneumatic activated valves, but as well ball valves. This is a typical application where GF Piping Systems is providing its products to. The operating result was CHF 247 million with a margin of 12.5%, also a record number, compared with CHF 193 million the year before. The solid position of GF Piping Systems in its end markets, combined with a strong global presence, resulted in growth rates well above GDP rates.
Industry applications have grown by 19%, solutions for infrastructure by 8%, and for building technology by 16%. Demand of global key market segments such as microelectronics, water treatment, and data centers has substantially increased further. On a regional base, all three regions contributed to the overall growth, most noteworthy the U.S., with its solid demand for industrial solutions. Let us now turn to slide seven. GF Piping Systems recently inaugurated its new logistics and fabrication center in Phoenix, Arizona to serve its global semiconductor customers. The picture on the bottom left shows the new products jointly developed with FGS Brasil, which is well integrated by now, that have been launched across other countries on the American continent. The picture on the top right gives you an idea about our new plant in India.
GF produces products for water and gas infrastructure applications, recording a growth of more than 60% last year in India. Our new facility in Yangzhou, China, the picture on the bottom right, is well on track and will be inaugurated in the second half of 2022. With the completion of this facility, GF will double the production capacity for industrial products in China. Let's now look at slide eight, illustrating three end market segments of the division. Sales of products and services for the water distribution segment increased by 14% to CHF 260 million. Sales of products for the Microelectronic and data center segment went up by 26%, resulting in sales of CHF 180 million. The global demand is fueled by the ongoing digitalization, and therefore demand for semiconductors.
The Water Treatment segment has grown by 12% and reached sales of CHF 210 million in 2021. A typical product which I brought with you, which might look rather simple, is our new butterfly valve. This butterfly valve is entirely made of plastic, which is unique in the industry. Today, most of these applications are being made out of metal, and obviously corrosion plays a major role if you have that in an installation. This one has a very long longevity, so the lifetime of this product is a multitude higher than a metal one. That this, what you see here, is the most crucial providing customized, specifically engineered piping solutions for various applications in the power transformation process. The picture on the right shows our recently launched bio-attributed PVC product range.
The sustainable PVC resin made using tall oil, a waste product from paper production, is expected to reduce the CO2 emissions during production by 90%. While maintaining the highest quality, durability and recyclability. Let us turn now to GF Casting Solutions, slide 10. Also, the global automotive industry started the year on a more optimistic note. We saw a strong negative impact from the chip shortages in the first half of the year, especially in the U.S., which was then felt globally in the second half of the year. Sales went up by 17.1% to CHF 880 million, corresponding to an organic growth of 15.9%. A 1/3 of this growth is attributable to the U.S. The remainder is due to our strong positioning in lightweight body and structure components. The division recorded a record lifetime order intake for e-vehicle components.
The order volume of CHF 430 million represents 43% of the division's total lifetime order intake or 60% of the automotive order intake, whereas the entire order intake of the division was CHF 1 billion lifetime orders. These orders contribute significantly to the division's strong positioning for the future and to a positive short to midterm outlook. GF Casting Solutions was able to turn the previous year's operating loss into an operating profit of CHF 5 million. As you can see in the charts on slide 12, e-mobility continued its successful course in Europe and Asia. The light green bars and bubbles represent the purely battery-powered electric vehicles. The blue bars represent the sales figures of the so-called plug-in hybrid cars. New electric vehicles account for around 20% of all newly registered vehicles in Europe and China.
With its strong order intake for e-vehicle components, the division is well positioned for the future. May I draw your attention shortly to this E -Engine Housing. This is a high-pressure die casting aluminum component. I would actually lift it, but it's still heavy. It's the difference with that kind of components. It's very complex. The cooling and therefore the channel and the precision needs to be substantially higher than any other parts. That's also due to the fact that the revs per minute in such a e-engine are substantially higher than in a conventional combustion engine. It's about complexity, and it's about precision, where GF can play its full potential in delivering these kind of products to our customers. Let us turn to slide 13. The picture on the left gives an impression of the new light metal production in Shenyang, China.
CO2 emissions during operation of the heavy-duty vehicle. Let us turn now to GF Machining Solutions, slide 14. The division showed a strong momentum over the course of the second half and delivered a remarkable result. Order intake increased by 33% thanks to a strong development in key markets such as MedT ech, ICT, and Automotive. Sales increased by 20% to CHF 873 million. Positive sales development was seen in Europe, China, and North Asia, whereas the U.S. remained at the subdued level due to the strong dependence on the aerospace business in that region. Operating income amounted to CHF 47 million, thereof CHF 38 million alone in the strong second half of the year. The EBIT margin was 5.4%, almost a doubling compared to the 2.8% in 2020.
Recent innovations underlined our strong position in the EDM machine tool businesses. GF Machining Solutions is one of the technology leaders in this area. Advanced Manufacturing and Automation Solutions grew by 36% last. On slide 16, we show the sales development of selected end market segments of GF Machining Solutions. Stamping with an accuracy level of 1 microns-2 microns only for the stator and rotor sheets which are being stacked on each other and need to be super accurate. Slide 17 illustrates only a subset of the multiple innovations at GF Machining Solutions. On the left, we see the most advanced laser texturing machines that can replace chemical etching and eliminate hazardous process materials. That's also one of the machines being used for the special surfaces.
This technology is used in the mold and die industry, but also in the ICT and as said in the MedTech. In the middle, an illustration of the newly launched digital services and a new tool workpiece automation device to increase productivity at our customer sites. Factory automation is one of the key pillars of our Strategy 2025, where we want to increase the share up to 25% of all machine tools being sold in this division. The picture on the right shows the latest generation of EDM wire machines, which reduce energy consumption by up to 30% and simultaneously increase efficiency by 25%. The key driver for this development is a new Spark Track control technology. Let me now turn back to the corporation. Important steps towards sustainability targets 2025, slide 18.
The ongoing focus on development of products with a social or environmental benefit resulted in an increase of 2.8 percentage points to a share of 60% of GF sales. GF Machining Solutions launched several new machines with a significant increase in energy efficiency. GF Piping Systems industrialized its new pressure regulating valve for urban infrastructure to mitigate water losses. GF Casting Solutions could further increase its share of lightweight casting components for e-mobility. Our innovative solutions do not only enable our customers to contribute to sustainability. GF, as a group, was able to reduce its CO2 emissions, Scope 1 and 2, by a substantial 16% to 274,000 kt. Lastly, but importantly, at management level, the share of women managers appointed in 2021 went up to 30%, already above the target for 2025.
2021 marks the first year of our Strategy 2025 cycle, slide 19. The current and refined strategy emphasizes the central role of innovation and solutions for the substantial sustainability needs of our customers. The five-year plan addresses the three strategic focus areas of profitable growth, portfolio resilience, and a go for a full potential spirit to further evolve into a performance and learning culture. Our financial strategy targets are an EBIT margin of 9%-11% and an average organic growth rate of 4%-6%. Addressing the first strategic focus area, all three divisions shifted their sales efforts and innovation focus towards intelligent and sustainable solutions. A few of these were highlighted in today's presentation.
In order to increase its robustness through portfolio additions and operational excellence, GF continued to invest and expand into less cyclical businesses, such as the water and gas business in Brazil, but also further strengthened its market segment organizations, for example, water treatment, e-mobility, medical device production in all three divisions in 2021. GF also kicked off the culture movement to unleash the full potential of the organization through a series of initiatives, such as the implementation of the new corporate values related to caring, learning, and performance. With that, I will now hand over to our CFO, Mads Joergensen , for a detailed look at our financials.
Thank you very much, Andy. Ladies and gentlemen, also from my side, a warm welcome. I have the pleasure to present to you the financial accounts of 2021. On the first slide, 2021 here, you see in the upper part of the table the sales per division. It is clear that 2021 was a year with strong sales recovery in all three divisions. At group level, sales increased organically by 15.9% to CHF 3.7 billion. At GF Piping Systems, the sales growth to CHF 1.971 billion was driven by a strong performance in all three divisions and all three business areas. In particular, the industrial piping systems outperformed due to strong demand from the semiconductor industry and the data center markets. The utility business was particularly strong in Europe and North America.
Whereas in Asia, in particular in China, the markets remained relatively subdued. The building technology business enjoyed another very successful year, driven by Europe, Turkey, and a starting recovery of the marine segment. Sales at GF Casting Solutions increased to CHF 880 million. The recovery that we experienced in the first half of the year, with organic sales growth of 38%, was clearly impacted in the second half by the well-known semiconductor crisis. This affected several casting plants around the world. The Aerospace segment did not show signs of recovery, but that was actually in line with expectations. The Industrial segment had a strong year as well, and overall sales in the division grew organically by 15.9%. Sales at GF Machining Solutions came in at CHF 873 million, an increase of CHF 148 million.
The strongest growth contributors were the Electrical Discharge, or EDM, and the Advanced Manufacturing segments, that is, laser and 3D printers. The latter with a year-over-year growth close to 36%. The Milling segment only recovered slightly, mainly due to a continuously subdued Aerospace segment. Finally, the service business enjoyed a strong recovery in line with the overall division, and hence, the division ended up with a 19.9% organic sales increase. In the lower part of the slide, you see the growth by semester. Now, the 20% organic sales growth in the first half of 2021 should of course be seen relative to the 14% decline that we saw in the first half of 2020.
Similarly, the 12.1% sales growth in the second half of 2021 should be seen in the light of a small organic sales decline of 2.6% in 2020. Therefore, the sales performance in the second half is similarly strong. Slide 22 shows additional details on the sales development. Starting from the left side, the effect of acquisitions here mainly is the Brazil-based FGS, a leading PE pipe producer that we consolidated in March. The currency effect was this year marginally positive. This of course should be seen in the light of a CHF 172 million negative effect in 2020. Next, we saw the organic growth. Pricing adjustments are typically shown as an integrated part of organic growth. However, in 2021, the effect of price adjustments was so material that it warrants a separate disclosure.
As can be seen in the chart, we recorded an organic growth of 15.9%, split in price adjustments of 4.8%, and a volume effect of 11.1%. Slide 23 shows the sales development from a regional standpoint. The Americas grew organically by 24%, and the region therefore accounted for 20% of our sales, compared with 19% in previous year. The biggest increase came from GF Piping Systems, which grew by 90% and followed by GF Casting Solutions. Europe grew organically by 14%. The region ended up constituting only 44% of our sales, down another percentage point from 45% in 2020. Back in 2019, this figure was 47%. The strongest growth contributor was GF Machining Solutions with 25% growth, driven by the strong recovery of the machine tool market.
Both GF Piping Systems and GF Casting Solutions showed double-digit growth rates as well. The relatively low growth rates in Asia should be seen in relation to Asia being the only region which had shown positive growth in 2020 of 2%. Growth was mostly driven by the strong recovery of the machine tool business, as well as a recovery of the industrial piping systems market in China. In percentage terms, the sales in Asia remained at 31%. The sales in the rest of the world were mainly attributable to a buoyant piping market in Turkey. Despite the severe adverse effects of the Turkish lira, the country was able to record strong growth in Swiss francs. Slide 24 provides some more details on the foreign currency effects. On the left, you see the effects by division.
The strong negative effect with GF Piping Systems largely relates to Turkish lira and U.S. dollars. With an effect on group sales and EBIT of +CHF 3 million and -CHF 14 million, respectively, the effect of currency was significantly below that of 2020. The table on the right-hand side illustrates that in 2021, the Swiss franc depreciated against the Europe euro and the Chinese yuan, and appreciated against the U.S. dollars and the Turkish lira. Slide 25 shows the EBIT and margin development. GF Piping Systems came in with an all-time high EBIT of CHF 247 million and an EBIT margin of 12.5%, some 1.2 percentage points above 2020.
The profitability was driven by the high sales growth of industrial piping systems and a high level of plant utilization. During the course of 2021, GF Casting Solutions recovered well in a number of plants around the world. As mentioned by Andy, however, a combination of the aggravated semiconductor crisis, historical volatility of raw materials, and an unseen shortage of labor adversely impacted some businesses, in particular, the North American joint venture plant in Mills River. Overall, the Casting Solutions Division came in slightly above breakeven. Whereas GF Machining Solutions had a challenge in first half, the Division was able to significantly improve the profitability in the second half of 2021. The EBIT increased up to CHF 47 million, up from reported CHF 20 million in previous year.
The improvement is even further noticeable when you factor in that the EBIT in 2020 contained a non-recurring profit of CHF 10 million relating to the sale of an operational building in Sevelen in Switzerland. Overall, the EBIT margin increased from 2.8%- 5.4%. The EBIT of the corporation came in at CHF 278 million with an EBIT margin of 7.5%. In the lower end of the table, you can see that the profitability was slightly lower in the second half of the year compared to the first half, and this is a seasonal effect of the holiday months of August and December. On slide 26, you see a summary of the consolidated income statement.
The gross value added increased by 19% to CHF 1,478 million, slightly over the increase in sales. The personnel expenses increased by CHF 112 million- CHF 995 million. This was caused by the following two effects. First, the short time work compensation decreased by CHF 38 million compared to 2020. Secondly, we hired additionally, around 1,000 new employees to cope with the sales rebound. EBITDA increased from CHF 299 million to CHF 412 million. The corresponding EBITDA margin increased from 9.4%- 11.1%, moving very close to the all-time high EBITDA margin of 11.8%, which was achieved back in 2017. Depreciation and amortization came in at CHF 134 million, slightly up from previous year.
Moving to the financial results. Here, the net cost increased from CHF 19 million- CHF 23 million in 2021. The effect was caused by lower interest income and a CHF 2 million higher interest expense caused by an increase in Turkish lira-denominated loans. The tax expenses increased substantially to CHF 53 million. However, the effective income tax rate decreased from 22% to 21%. Net profit attributable to Georg Fischer shareholders increased from CHF 116 million- CHF 214 million, leading to an increase in earnings per share from CHF 28-CHF 52 per share. Slide 27 shows the asset side of the consolidated balance sheet. Liquidity remained strong in 2021. Cash and cash equivalents increased by CHF 103 million- CHF 944 million.
The increase in accounts receivable of CHF 61 million was mainly attributable to the very strong sales growth in December. Despite this growth, the days sales outstanding decreased by 6 days- 59 days in 2021. Inventories increased by CHF 138 million, half of which relates to GF Piping Systems. This was caused by higher safety stock levels to ensure supply, and towards the end of the year, a drastic increase in raw material costs as well. Hence, the days inventory outstanding increased from 110 days- 117 days, but still well below the 122 days we saw in 2019. In total, our assets increased from CHF 3.45 billion- CHF 3.77 billion, and the increase is mainly attributable to an increase in net working capital and in cash.
Slide 28 shows the liability and equity section of the balance sheet. The current liabilities increased from CHF 986 million- CHF 1.318 billion, an addition of CHF 332 million. This was caused by an increase in accounts payable and prepayments from customers of around CHF 134 million , as well as from the reclassification from non-current to current liabilities of our CHF 150 million corporate bond, which is due in September 2022. GF's equity increased from CHF 1.389 billion- CHF 1.496 billion. This is higher than the level of 2019. Finally, the equity ratio remains stable around the 40% mark. Let us now move to the free cash flow statement on slide 29.
The EBITDA increase of CHF 130 million from CHF 299 million- CHF 412 million was the main positive driver of our cash flow. However, as previously mentioned, the strong sales in December led to a significant increase in net working capital. The effect, as you can see, is a negative CHF 94 million on operating cash flow compared to a positive effect of CHF 76 million in 2020. Our capital expenditure remained with CHF 135 million at the level of previous year. The top three most important CapEx projects implemented in 2021 was the successful construction of GF Casting Solutions facility in Shenyang with CHF 16 million, followed by the installation of further production equipment at GF Linamar, also with CHF 16 million, thereof half paid by Georg Fischer.
Thirdly, the refurbishment of part of our GF Machining Solutions plant in Losone with CHF 7 million. Cash flow from acquisitions relates mainly to the acquisition of the before mentioned FGS in March 2021. We also increased our stakes in a number of smaller companies in China and the U.K. during the course of the year. For your recollection, of the CHF 25 million cash inflow in the line other additions disposals net in 2020, thereof 19 million relate to the already mentioned sale of the property in Sevelen, in Ticino. Eventually, in line with our guidance, we generated free cash flow before acquisitions of CHF 151 million. On slide 30, we show the most important key figures in a summary here.
For another year, GF was able to lower the net debt further to CHF 54 million, down from CHF 170 million . Combined with the increase in EBITDA, this led to a net debt EBITDA ratio of 0.13x . This is an all-time low for this important financial KPI. The second lowest was in 2017, with 0.37x . Moving to the return on invested capital, this KPI increased from 9.3%- 16.4% in 2021. The increase was mainly caused by the increase in our profitability. As can be seen from the table, GF Piping Systems reached an all-time high return on invested capital of impressive 32.1%.
As a result of the solid balance sheet, the sound free cash flow and strong liquidity, our Board will propose an increase in the dividend by 33% from CHF 15- CHF 20 per share. This is a payout ratio of 38%, and we are now back in our targeted payout range between 30% and 40%. Finally, as mentioned earlier, the headcount increased by 993 people, hereof 281 relates to the acquisition of FGS in Brazil. On the last slide 31, you can see that at the upcoming annual general assembly, the board of directors will propose to undertake a 1-to-20 share split.
Georg Fischer has for some time been among the most expensive shares on the SIX Swiss Stock Exchange, and the split will bring the share price closer to the median of the market, and is done in order to cater more to retail investors. Now let me finally reflect on the financial results. Looking back on 2021, it wasn't really a plain vanilla year. Despite the challenges we had in supply chain, highly volatile raw materials and shortages in labor, Georg Fischer was able to achieve a significant increase in sales, a substantial increase in profitability, and our corporation remains very financially solid. Thank you very much for your attention, and I hereby hand over to Andy for the outlook.
Thank you very much, Mads. Let me now turn to slide 33 for the Outlook 2022. GF started 2022 with a promising order book and a favorable momentum in all divisions. GF Piping Systems can rely on its strong position in several end markets, as well as the ongoing shift to higher value businesses and the growing sustainability needs of its customers. For GF Casting Solutions, the global chip shortage should gradually abate somewhat in the course of the year and enable the division to further benefit from the shift toward e-mobility in the automotive industry. The Aerospace segment is still subdued, but shows signs of a mild recovery, supporting the development of two divisions. The positive development at GF Machining Solutions in the fourth quarter of 2021 is expected to continue in the coming months.
The geopolitical tensions, including the terrifying war in Ukraine, the persisting COVID-19 related issues, and supply chain constraints reduce visibility even further. Assuming that these issues subside, the world and its leaders become rational and diplomatic again, and no unforeseen circumstances arise, GF expects mid-single-digit volume growth in 2022, and thus a further step towards achieving the targets of Strategy 2025 for sales and profit. Thank you very much for your attention. We are now ready to take your questions. I will hand for the instructions now to Daniel, who gives us a short idea how to deal with the Q&A session.
Thank you, Andy. As said, now we are ready to open the Q&A session. First, we will start with the questions from the participants in this room, and then we will take the questions from the participants which will log in over phone. For those participants which are in the webcast over phone, please press star and one to enter the Q&A queue. The participants in the room, please use the microphones, and introduce yourself quickly with your name and company. Thank you.
Bernd Pomrehn from Vontobel. Thank you for providing such a very clear volume guidance for the current year. What about pricing? Obviously, everyone is talking currently about inflation, cost inflation, wage inflation, raw material inflation. Where do you stand in terms of price increases, having entered the year? Year- on- year, compared to 12 months ago, or what kind, what magnitude of price increases do you expect for the year? And do you expect that price increases will have an impact on volume, on end market demand? Thank you.
Thank you very much for the question. I think it's a complex question. You know, it's not. If you would have looked up the world estimates in regards to inflation just a week ago, you know, it looked already completely different than what we have seen this morning in the news. Inflation most likely will be higher than anyone would have expected, and particularly, you know, here driven by the energy and raw material supplies, which will ultimately later on also affect the consumer price indices. Back when we have actually thought about this guidance, you know, our inflationary tendency was that we, first of all, have a full year effect of the price increases which we have launched last year. But also obviously accompanied with further increases, you know, during the course of this year.
It is that obviously at this point of time, the discussion with end customers is a very open one. Everyone understands the situation because it affects the entire industries. It affects suppliers, upstream, downstreams, customers. There's a quite good tolerance here to openly negotiate on these topics, because you can't hardly digest if you have, for example, industries which are heavily depending on energy, then energy is maybe 5%-6% of turnover. You most likely can't absorb a t2x or 3x higher energy cost. Anything what I would tell you now would be just guesswork, and I don't have the crystal ball, you know. It's definitely not 1%. It's definitely in the range 2%-3%, you know, what we're gonna see and depends a little bit on the outcome of the current situation, whether that is made even further amplified.
Thank you. Alessandro Foletti, Octavian. Thank you for taking my questions. Maybe on piping systems, can you explain why the order intake is so much higher than sales? This is not really a normal situation. Please.
What is special is what you see is the growth in industrial piping systems. Industrial piping systems are typically projects with a longer delivery time. It's a very correct observation. Typically, the majority of the sales is a 24-hour supply after the order. Because we are growing so strongly in industrial piping systems, they typically have three months and sometimes even longer delivery times. That is the special reason this year that the order intake is higher than the or substantially higher than the sales.
Thank you. A follow-up on this, would it then be wrong to say, give or take CHF 2.2 billion turnover for piping in 2022 is possible?
As we have said, you know, our intention is a growth in the mid-single digit volume growth, and that applies, actually, to all our divisions. I think, what we have seen, as Mads just said, with the industrial businesses being much higher than in the past. That's also projects, for example, particularly the ones which we have taken in for the microelectronics, for the construction of microelectronic fabs, that is made even exceeding the year 2022.
Okay. All right. Understood. Maybe my last question on piping again on the margin. Development was good, no doubt about it, but you're still not into your range. In my opinion, 2021 was really a great year. If you don't make your target in such a great year with 14%-15% organic growth, prices that go up, volumes, good capacity utilization, etc. When will you do it?
I think, you know, it is.
What must happen so that you can do it?
It's a question, you know, which can be raised exactly as you said. What we would like to phrase is that we're gonna move towards more solution-oriented applications. We're gonna develop further products. For example, the industrial business has grown up to a level of CHF 770 million in that division. As you may recall, the division is constructed out of three subunits. One is industrial business applications with CHF 770 million, CHF 740 million for infrastructures, and a tad below CHF 500 million for the building technologies. Considering that we're gonna move with more solutions in all areas, we're gonna appreciate and also increase our higher value business solutions, and therefore we will expand our margins in the years to come.
Areas like automation, just to complement what Andy said. Automation is another high margin business area. There is a portfolio shift, which is one of the growing. The division has clearly centralized its governance of the plants. It's traditionally very decentralized by a new operating structure. We expect some margin increases there as well. Finally, we have also talked about during when we presented the strategy at the time that Piping Systems wants to change the go-to-market partly, that some of the large accounts that today are served through dealers would be served directly on selected basis. Those are sort of the building blocks of our margin expansion in piping over the years to come. It's strategic.
I lost the microphone.
On purpose.
Thank you for giving it back. Without saying too much, on 2022, I mean, can we reach that level already or can we approach? Forgetting about Ukraine and everything else now, like, let's say it's a normal year. You have this nice order book, you can grow, et cetera, you continue your measures. Would you then, with the prices that you have?
In a perfect world.
Be willing to make it already this year?
In a perfect world.
Be a good target, right?
Yes, that should be our target. However, I would like just to build on what Mads just said, you know. It is also the first year of our Strategy 2025 what we have just passed, and we are continuously investing into our market segment organizations in our R&D centers to be able and capable to develop even further innovative solutions in the future. I said also the approach, how we're gonna go to the market will be changed, but this is firstly coming with an investment, and here foremost in people, and that also weighs on the costs.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Foletti.
Walter Bamert from Zürcher Kantonalbank. Could you please give us more insights into three important piping markets, USA, China, and Turkey? In the first one, what is currently changing there that you grow so strong, apart from your great products, probably say. In China, it's also the product mix. What are you exactly doing in piping, and how are you exposed to the construction market, and how do you experience that one? In Turkey, how can you explain the big success despite the currency situation and the economic situation?
Bamert, thank you very much. Let me start with the U.S. As already mentioned, we have a very strong industrial business in the U.S., so a lot of semiconductor customers are located in the U.S., but also, for example, our businesses in piping systems for data centers is constantly growing, you know. Here we're gonna provide piping solutions for conveying cooling liquids in a very energy efficient way, but also obviously, you know, providing to the large players when it comes to semiconductor production in the U.S. So that drives a very strong demand for our industrial business here, the substantial growth of the piping systems divisions of 28% in the U.S. Besides that, we have a very strong utility business in the U.S.
That means, we are there in the distribution of gas for households, and we have, for example, house connectors, but also metering units there, and that is also giving us quite a good development. In China, as you correctly said, it's the product mix. To give you an example, we are very strong when it comes to, environmental applications in landfills in China. For example, we're providing sensor technologies, but also, automated control units into such kind of applications where landfill water treatment is being done. This is an important growth area since also the sustainability topic becomes more and more of relevance in China. Therefore, industry is gonna need to treat on the one side their water, on the other side, landfills have been recognized being one of the major polluters when it comes to rivers, but also lakes or groundwater.
There is a huge potential there. We're gonna grow in that kind of industrial applications. We have also infrastructure products in China, where we're gonna provide pipes for water, but also for gas distributions, also here for households. This makes quite a large part of the growth there. Our exposure to building technologies in China is relatively low, so we have only a minor business there, which is so we are not in the large commodity markets exposed. Since Mads is one of our Turkey specialists, I'm gonna leave the floor on the growth rates and the Turkey business development to him, since he was also one of the people acquiring this company some years ago.
Thank you. Thank you, Andy. No, Turkey is. I agree with you. On the face of it's counterintuitive that we're actually able to grow. Georg Fischer Hakan has a special market position in Turkey, which is clearly in the premium. It's quality premium and it's quality price. There is a big mass market in Turkey where price increases are difficult to get through, but the segment we are in there is much more, let's say, willing to absorb increases on the cost side. And this has actually led to, I would say, a booming business last year in the construction of higher-end buildings.
Ronald Kroll, UniCredit. A very brief question on CO2, or perhaps two questions. One, is it fair to assume that Casting Solutions has a major part of CO2? Two, do you actually trade in either direction in CO2 certificates?
Thank you very much, Mr. Kroll. The largest CO2 emissions, of course, stem from our Casting Solutions plants, where we have a number of measures actually in place. We are really trying to install energy-saving measures in these plants. Some of these are areas which are difficult to abate, and therefore, what we typically do is we procure CO2, or let's say, renewable energy certificates. It's very important to understand that we're not talking greenwashing. It is specifically not a greenwashing. It is simply the higher price procurement of renewable energies that we use as a source. That is the main reason how we actually abate the situation in Casting Solutions and are trying to achieve our targets.
No trading?
No.
Thomas Funk from GAM. I'd like to follow up a little bit on the question of Alessandro for the Machining Solutions business. What does it take there to bring you to your target range? And then I have a second question.
Okay. Thank you. Machining Solutions, as I said, is still suffering from the subdued aerospace businesses. I think we have dedicated plants which are gonna produce machining tool solutions for the aerospace industries, and here in particular for the machining of plate and jet engine components. We're gonna need to have that business somehow back, maybe not entirely to what we have seen before COVID, but that is definitely delivering a margin expansion in this division. Secondly, where we're gonna see a lot of potential is the integrated solutions, as I said, and given this example on the med tech device production or the medical implant production. You see multi-technologies being used, and if you can integrate these multi-technologies on integrated, automated technology, you're gonna create a higher value business.
This is, by the way, not only valid, you know, for the medical device production. One of our success stories highlighted in our annual report is about our customer, Schaeffler, in South Germany. He's producing components for the e-engines, and he's using a fully automated mold shop. You know, whatever has been part production, individual piece production step as one by one, is becoming more and more now an automated production. For example, these fine stems which you need to produce this e-engine, sheet metal which you stack on each other up to 300, is now requesting so many molds that the mold production is being automated. We're gonna see in the further growth in integrated, automated solution, we see also a potential in increasing the margin.
This is maybe also the answer to the labor shortages we see more or less across the world. Factory automation is a key pillar of our Strategy 2025 for Machining Solutions.
My second question would be a market that might be accelerated, because of the tragic events we see now is hydrogen. What's your position in the hydrogen market?
Hydrogen is first of all, when you're gonna convey hydrogen or you're gonna provide it into the applications, as we have seen this ship. This is only one application. We have already done quite a few test installations across Europe, where we convey or gonna treat hydrogen, particulate hydrogen dissolved in other media. We're gonna see piping systems playing an important role here. With GF systems, one of our product ranges has been just recently homologated and certified, you know, to be able to convey hydrogen. When it comes to our Casting Solutions divisions, as you may know, we have also an investment casting facility. This investment casting facility is producing special foils or elements for IGT, industrial gas turbines, where you see more and more hydrogen being used also for the combustion process.
Last but not least, our Machining Solutions division is obviously providing a technology for this ultra-precision required compressor machining. It's an indirect benefit, what we're gonna see here. Directly exposed is Piping Systems and our Casting Solutions division.
Okay, thank you.
I can't see any follow-up question actually, so therefore, I would recommend that we take the questions from the phone. Please, operator, take over.
The first question comes from Joern Iffert from UBS. Please go ahead.
Yes, hello, everybody, and thanks for taking my questions. Would be three, please, and if it's okay, I take it one by one. The first question would be, please, on Casting Solutions, in particular, the Auto segment. If my math are not totally wrong, since 2013, there was no real cash generation. On the positive side, I mean, there were some external factors which were not under your control. I was wondering, I mean, is there any Plan B if you're not seeing a market improvement on global production rates for the next couple of years, or what is your strategy, going forward, in particular, when the market would not recover so quickly? Maybe starting with this question, please.
First of all, we expect, obviously, a market recovery in the years to come. We see the chip shortage being artificially instilled by escalated demand. It's also clear that this is not something which can be solved overnight. I think statements which we have seen just 9 months- 10 months ago have been hopefully over-optimistic. We are not naive today. I think we have a much better visibility on what it means, you know, on these different levels of semiconductors being required in producing a car. We're gonna see this not easing entirely in the next 1 year- 2 years. We assume that will take 2 years-3 years before we're gonna have no harming effect any longer from the semiconductor. The entire industry, in our view, is rather healthy.
We see that demand, end customer demand is rather high than low and can't be provided by the OEMs. I think lead times for new cars are getting to historical lengths. Last year we have seen some 5 million cars being sold which haven't been produced in the year. There have been a reduction in further inventories across the world, which need to be built up once again. We're gonna see actually the underlying secular demand is rather healthy in this industry. Also very important point here for GF is that we're gonna change towards more e-mobility components. As shown in our presentation last year, we could secure 43% of lifetime order intake for e-mobility-driven cars.
This is for us an important step in the transformation of our division towards a sustainability provider or solution provider into that segment. We see the market overall is a healthy market. Yes, you're right, we're gonna see these chip shortages affecting our business in the year to come. However, with a slight difference to last year, we assume that the call-off behavior will be much more balanced in this year than what we have seen last year. Last year, we had a very erratic call-off cancellation situation, whereas now towards the end, we have recognized, you know, that our customers are dealing with the situation much more in a professional way. Yes, the call-offs are lower due to the shortage of the chips, but much more foreseeable.
Thank you for this. Just for the very short term, for 2022, let's assume volumes for any reason would be flattish in the global car production. With your 12 million parts on the rising raw material costs, which had a delay from 2021, and with some efficiency improvements in Linamar, would you be able to have on flattish volumes an EBIT in the range of maybe CHF 20 million-CHF 30 million for 2022? Would this be a fair math in this division?
It is obvious, you know, that as said by Mads and myself before, we do not expect, you know, that we're gonna have to cope with all these heavy headwinds in the year 2022. Therefore, your estimation could be reasonable.
Thanks. The second question, please, on your CapEx plans. CapEx was a bit below expectations, I think, for 2021. Can you elaborate what your CapEx plans in terms of total magnitude are for the next couple of years? Also on free cash flow term as capital, you are in the range of 6%-8% if you add back the goodwill. Therefore, the CapEx estimates for the next couple of years would be quite helpful to better see that economic value add is coming.
Thank you, Joern. The CapEx this year was surely not intentional. It actually relates to a delay in the Yangzhou plant of piping systems, which is not invoiced in phases, but rather as a lump sum at the end of the construction. They did not reach the end of the construction in 2021. That's why those twenty-three millions has moved into 2022. Actually, our budget was somewhat higher for last year. Going forward, we are looking at a CapEx ranging between CHF 180 million and up to CHF 200 million going forward. From the free cash flow, as you can see, this is a very volatile number. Net working capital is an important part of the free cash flow calculation and just looking at what happens between those two years.
We actually stick with our guidance between CHF 150 million-CHF 200 million, should be around this area.
Thanks. The last question is just a technical one. I think you stated your medium-term targets are 4%-6% organic sales growth and 9%-11% EBIT margin. If I make the math from the 2020 level, the midpoint brings me shy of CHF 4.3 billion. I think you mentioned CHF 4.4 billion should be reached by 2025 organically. Just to double-check this, if I may follow up here.
No, I think the guidance of CHF 4.4 billion is the correct one, yeah.
Okay. All right. I just wanted to double-check if anything has changed here.
No, no.
All right. Thanks a lot.
The next question comes from Remo Rosenau from Helvetische Bank. Please go ahead.
Yes, thank you. Going back to pricing shortly. If I understood you correctly, you said your best guess would be 2%-3% price impact for 2022 on average. Now, looking at it from another angle, if we look just at the first of January 2022 compared to the first of January 2021 in your three divisions. What kind of higher prices did you start into the year, first of January versus first of January, in each of your three divisions just to get a feeling how much you could do? I know that this has nothing to do with the full year average price increase, but still, if you have this number.
I will leave a part of this answer to our CFO, but just as a general remark, the metal prices which we have seen also, which is part of the price adjustments which we do, are fluctuating. That means, prices which we have seen in the last quarter 2021 might gonna be partially, being passed on to customers in the first quarter, but it will also lower during the course of the year. It is also depending a lot on our metal price fluctuations.
You're right. From last year, there is a carryover from the Casting Solutions part. A lot of the price increases should also happen this year, contractually. For Piping Systems, they have, typically in the industry, depending on the country, very strict ways of increasing the prices. It's typically first of April or first of October. That actually has already happened now, partly last year. The market is easier to absorb these price increases traditionally in the construction industry. For Machining Solutions, we have seen also increases on the raw material side, and we have been able to more or less compensate a large part of that for that division as well.
To better understand, again, Machining Solutions is a division that plays in the premium segment. There are other players, for instance, the American company Haas, that's a different market segment, and they go on volume and lower price. Machining Solutions is a higher priced, let's say high precision machine, solutions provider.
Okay, still the numbers if possible?
Oh, you know, I would have to refer back to what Andy said. It's simply very difficult at the moment to provide any information that will make sense in a, let's say, in working out a model. I suggest maybe you would take up the topic with Daniel Bösiger at a later point in time. At the moment, we don't think it's wise to come up with more details on this.
Okay. Well, fair enough in that sense. Well, that's it. Thank you.
Actually, we can't see any further questions from the phone. Again, if you have any questions, please press star and one. Meanwhile, I would like to ask you here in the room for any follow-up questions.
Again, Bernd Pomrehn from Vontobel. You mentioned the further improved balance sheet, further strengthened balance sheet, which you could leverage. What's your view on M&A opportunities? How do you see these? How do you see multiples? Why haven't you been so active regarding acquisitions last year? Could we expect something? Could we see bold on acquisitions? Thank you.
Our Strategy 2025 foresees that we're gonna acquire CHF half a billion of sales. That's our target. It's obviously, you know, that you need to agree on an investment or an acquisition. Many of our acquisitions done in the past have been built on long-lasting relations. We have created a good relation with the owners, and ultimately we could increase or we could acquire then the companies. Having not seen that many acquisitions in the first year of Strategy 2025 results that this is most likely not a process which goes overnight. We have a pipeline of potential acquisition targets or whether those gonna materialize or not, you know, that is to be seen in the months and years to come.
Okay, thank you.
If there are no follow-up questions, I would like to hand over to you, Andy.
Well done. We thank you very much, you know, for your participation in person, and we're looking forward to, first of all, update you mid-year, but we will also have, during the course of the second half of the year, our capital market day, where we're gonna present not only the innovations of the corporations, but also an update on the relevant markets and their development and relevance for GF. Once again, thank you very much, and I think we share for an apéro outside this room. Looking forward to for some private discussion. Thank you.