Ladies and gentlemen, good morning, and thank you for coming again to our head office. It's a great pleasure because last year we were, you know, alone sitting here, me and Mr. Hug. Now I have again, you know, the group that we are used to for, you know, 25 years. Now, it's not only you here. I think as well we went into a new mode, that is a hybrid mode. I welcome as well the online participants that we have today. As you can imagine, not only you, but as well the online participants will be able to ask and to participate in the question and answer session at the end of that meeting. Now, we have again good results this year that are slightly above the guidance and as well expectations, and very happy about that as well.
You know, let me say one word at the beginning of my presentation. I think that is not because we did a great job, and Martin did a great job, and the group management. You know, behind us are 14,000 employees. These employees, last year, I can tell you, mainly factory, health, and as well health issues, you know, were big ones. I think, you know, I thank mainly as well all those employees that were producing our products so that we at the end could sell it. Same as well for administration. You know, we had huge hurdles to get across that we can't produce, we can't operate in view of all the difficulties that we had with the health situation. Now, I have to check. Yes, here it is. Let me go into the agenda for today.
Now, I will take over the parts one and two, financials and as well market insights. Then I will hand over to Martin with financial results and sustainability. Last then, I get back with outlook and the question and answer session. Here are the key figures we have announced this morning. Now, the first line, I go by line, the first line is sales. Now, these sales we have announced already in January. It's 13.3% organic, and it is close to CHF 4.6 billion. Now, the second line is a new line for you. Second line, we have an EBIT of 14.1%, CHF 645 million. We have an EBIT margin, net income margin of 10.7%, close to CHF 450 million. I think that is mainly for the financial analysts and as well for us a good result.
We have a cash flow, free cash flow margin of close to CHF 600 million. That brings us then to an equity ratio of 458%. Now, the next line, you see other KPIs we are very happy and very proud on. That is the market share in all markets. Basically, we were gaining shares. We have online trade that was again growing very fast, double digit. Then what we did as well in the organization, we had a chance that we could, number one, acquire the minority share in Brazil from our joint venture partner. Second as well, we were splitting from our distributor in Brazil, so we take over now wholesale distribution ourselves.
Last but not least, and as well, we integrated Caffarel in Lindt & Sprüngli Italy, and as well had an opportunity to acquire our franchise partner in Italy. Now, the last line you see here, we made commitments for climate change. We made commitments for packaging improvements and as well for more sustainable packaging. Then as well, what we did is an increase in the dividend of 9% to a total of 1,200 CHF per share. Coming to the global chocolate markets, just giving you an umbrella overview, you know, where are we active and what happens in our main focus of chocolates around the world. I think I have good news for all of you. Number one, the chocolate market on a global basis is growing. It's growing roughly 3% in 2021.
It's forecast to grow further as well in 2022 and ongoing years. Another point that is important, the premium segment is growing faster than the overall segment. Now, why this premium segment is above average? Because we see a clear trend to less but higher quality. That goes as well in line with income per capita that is growing on a global basis. That means we are well positioned. Looking then as well at Lindt, we had a strong comeback last year, mainly because in 2020, as you all know, we had lockdowns. We were suffering from lockdowns in our store.
We had tourism that was missing, and we had clearly as well lockdowns of even some wholesale customers and clearly duty-free. Now we were fighting still last year with ongoing pandemic related issues, but I can tell you those happened mainly in the first half. You see kind of, this year now we expect as well for the first half, always assuming no big lockdowns again, that we assume a good first six months. Now coming to the trends. I mentioned already the premium chocolate. The premium chocolate clearly as well is a trend we see very strongly so. What we see as well, a second one that is more and more awareness of sustainability. If we were talking when I came in here 20 years ago, we are talking raw materials, we were talking human rights.
In the meantime, traceability was a big word for raw materials. In the meantime, we have three main areas. It's raw materials, human rights, linked to that, and traceability. It is packaging, looking at packaging, recyclable packaging, very important demand from the consumers. Last but not least as well, and I think, you know, I even put that at the beginning, that is climate. Climate, greenhouse gas emissions from our activities, we have today and as well for the next years, a big, big demand and as well a big, big job to do that we are reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our activities. Now the last one or the last two ones, what we see as well is a consumer that is becoming more and more demanding for individual needs of consumption. As you see, these two are mentioned here. Plant-based is one of them.
Sugar-free, sugar-reduced is another one that we are clearly as well, going and investigating and making sure that we get the best product in that area. The online trade, another important trend that we are facing, and we as well could use over the last two years in order to sell to consumers with maybe some hurdles getting the products. Now market insights and highlights. The split of our overall sales you see here, the biggest market, Europe, second is North America, and the third is our rest of the world. Good news, clearly, rest of the world growing close to 20%. A year ago, rest of the world was 11.7% of the whole sales, now growing to 12.4. I can tell you already now, before I go to the details, that will continue in the next years.
Point is that we started over the last years to go into huge chocolate markets. That is China, that is Japan, that is Brazil, including as well South Africa. Those markets, when you start, you start at a small base. Now in the meantime, those markets become more and more a sizable scale, and that of course will help us in the next years as well to bring that segment that is an important one to more growth. Now North America growing 10.7%, details later, and as well Europe, you know, a very good 13.8%. If I get now to Europe, I think I go to Europe, then afterwards North America, and finally we get to the rest of the world.
The market split in Europe, you see here, Germany still the absolute biggest market, and not only in Europe, but in our whole group, Germany is the most important market, and they take 16.3% of the whole markets that we have and the whole sales we have as Lindt & Sprüngli. That is then directly followed by France, and you know the good news is the U.K. is already number three. Why do I say that? Because if you look at Europe and you look at the size of the markets, the German market and the U.K. market, they have about same size of CHF 4 billion-CHF 5 billion in total. That means there is nothing against that, you know, we continue growing nicely as well in the U.K.
Going now into the highlights of Europe, here you see Europe 13.3, market share gains, and you see the growth by company, and of course I just highlight two or three of them. Number one, Germany, 11%. Clearly, they benefited from the fact less closures of stores, a good Easter in 2021, but nevertheless, you know, it's a great growth we have here. I highlight as well the U.K. Now U.K., 18% growth last year, benefiting online, benefiting from less lockdowns, but benefiting as well, you know, just kind of a big demand from the consumers for our products, mainly LINDOR and EXCELLENCE. Italy benefiting as well. Easter, kind of closures in 2020. Easter was open again in 2021. At the same time as well, we were then acquiring, as I said, the franchise partner in retailing.
To mention as well, you know, we have Spain, Portugal, Austria, and the Nordics, all of them with good and great growth. Now that all is possible, thanks to marketing activities. That is possible to more investments into the market and clearly as well, you know, our new products that we brought to the market. Of course, the most important one, Double Chocolate, and you will see it just afterwards in LINDOR. At the same time as well, we are going to service the individual demands of consumers becoming more and more demanding. We have launched a HELLO Vegan in the meantime, as well a vegan product. At the same time, in Switzerland, we have launched a 30% sugar-reduced bar, milk bar. You know, there will be attempts and as well, not attempts, maybe the wrong word here.
There will be initiatives in that area, and I have to say they will remain small because what we realize is the consumer is always going, I say now, for the original. Because if you decide to eat a piece of chocolate, then you say, you know, "I know what I'm doing, I deserve the best, and I eat the original." Our goal really is to make as well the alternative as close to taste and texture of the original, and I think that will be a winning formula as well for the future. Now, another point that I'm sure you know and you have seen is Lindt Switzerland entered for the first time as well into Migros in distribution. I think that was as well a very big step for us here.
If we then highlight as well the investments we make in Switzerland, I think here as well, it's a clear commitment to Switzerland as a production location. We will invest over the next three years in Olten a total of CHF 70 million or over CHF 70 million in the new factory or additional factory to cocoa bean treatment. I think that Olten factory will then as well service and supply Germany, Italy, and partly France. With that, I get now to North America, sorry. North America is the market split we have here. 31% is the U.S. alone, 5% of North America is Canada, and as you see, Mexico is still a little part of this whole market.
When you look at this split, I just say very important is that U.S. is representing on a worldwide basis, roughly 20% of whole consumption of chocolate. You will understand now as well, while we were 25 years ago, we were mainly a European company. To conquer the U.S. was the main goal we had at that point. We dedicated a lot of efforts and as well management time and cash in order to develop the U.S. I think, you know, having 37% in total is now, I think, you know, a good share. I can tell you there is still a lot of potential given our market share by brand that we can further grow in that market. Going into the highlights in the North American market, we have a total sales of 11%.
That is misleading to some point, because if we go into the individual growth rates of the companies, we see here Lindt USA 16%, Ghirardelli 15%. Russell Stover, unfortunately, was losing in sales. I get to that just in the following chart in detail. Canada as well, nicely 11%. Growth drivers, clearly LINDOR, Ghirardelli. Retail, we could open again. That was mainly important as well for Ghirardelli. For instance, Ghirardelli Square, we talk about San Francisco icons here. As well, at the same time, we are in Disney World. Disney World was closed over a big, long period in 2020, opened, you know, step by step in 2021. I would like to highlight as well the success of Ghirardelli in food service. Big segment and division within Ghirardelli.
Then we have the Canadian company that as well, you know, made big progress last year and I think as well are well established in order to make that again in this year. Now, Russell Stover, I'm sure you're interested in what happened here, minus 5%. Now if I go back, we acquired the company in 2014. We looked at the company, we made the right decisions, we upgraded marketing. It is mainly in assorted pralines where we went with new boxes, new products. We as well on top of that have a very strong sugar-free business and clearly as well, we are very strong, if not the market leader in Valentine's and in some Easter products. We strengthened from a marketing point of view, you know, all those areas. Now job basically done. The second thing we did is we closed because we had to automate production.
We closed one factory. We are now back to three factories. As well, we did that during 2020. The third thing we did is we replaced a very old IT system coming from the 1990s with a new SAP system. You know, we did that during 2021. Last but not least as well, you know, what we had to do is making sure that the logistics is fully integrated into the Lindt logistics, including Eurodelice and the Lindt USA. Now all done. We were really high in expectations for 2021. Now what happened? What happened that was as well unforeseeable, we entered into a huge issue in the supply chain. The Russell Stover factories are in mostly isolated areas. The workers pool is not big, is reduced.
As you know, there was big support from the government for the workers in the U.S. We had a total of 2,200 employees in Russell Stover. We had times where we were missing up to 600 employees that were not coming or no more coming to work. At the same time, we had packaging material that was missing. We had even raw materials that was missing, so we couldn't supply at the end the way we wanted our trade partners. All that ended up in a, you know, -5%. The good news is that the trade partners we want to keep, we could service, but less than we thought so. I think, you know, that is the result we entered into. We have taken the measures. You know, good news is workers are back.
The second news is that, you know, all the measures we have taken now are starting to basically have an effect, and we are looking positively into 2022 so that we are improving rapidly in that area. Now coming to the rest of the world and the market split in the rest of the world. I mentioned already we were 11-7, we go now to 12-4 and that will continue to grow. Mainly because in here we have huge markets. I mentioned shortly, you know, if we talk consumer value, like the U.S. market consumer value is close to $20 billion. Now Germany, U.K. consumer value is $5-$6 billion. To give you an idea here. Now, if we are talking about the markets here we have Brazil $2-$2.5 billion. We have Japan close to $4 billion.
We have as well the China growing nicely, CHF 3 billion-CHF 4 billion. We have here good markets, growth markets for us where we still have a relatively low scale. I think that will lead to the point that we in the future will increase the size of this slice here in the chart. Going to the rest of the world and the highlights close to 20%. You see again the same companies I mentioned before Japan 23%, China 37%, South Africa 15% and Brazil. You know, I think those are the markets that, you know, in the row of growing when you go back in the history of Lindt stabilizing Europe, entering the USA and in a third row now we are entering those markets that now for the future definitely will have a good growth potential.
Stores in some of those countries are important because in brand awareness, brand equity, that are points that we still have to bring to those markets. Stores are an ideal vehicle that we can get, you know, to a higher brand awareness and know-how, knowledge of the consumers. We have 70 shops in Japan, 58 in Brazil. I mentioned the joint venture. We go further. Australia, the biggest market still in that segment. You know, they were still struggling with COVID. They had Melbourne, Sydney store closures. We were struggling with that. Nevertheless, at the end, we came out with positive 4% and the distributor markets, you know, they covered well. Duty-free. One word to that one.
You know, we were falling back from let's say 100% in 2019 to 20% of sales in 2020. We recovered from the 20% against 2019, back to about a little bit over 30% in 2021. Now, this year we will find out, you know, the hope and expectation is that we can get up a little bit more than this. Now, rest of the world, I would like to show you.
Make every little moment count. Fine chocolate. Luscious caramel. Introducing new caramel squares from the Lindt Master Chocolatier.
Now, I'm sure you will ask yourself, why do I show this this TV spot? You know, first, we are a marketing company, so I think, you know, you should get as well a little bit into the mood.
The second thing is, it's an important one because you see the products, it's Lindt SQUARES and, I'm sure you know as well that we have Ghirardelli Squares. It is a test we have now ongoing, you know, a very decision, the test we have taken, we try in Australia. As well, I'm sure you have seen as well the product that is back there in Switzerland on shelf. We just say, why don't we try out, you know, on how a Lindt SQUARE in Australia and as well in Switzerland, you know, on how we can establish that product. That is a differentiated product to our leader product that is LINDOR. Now, my last chart before I hand over is Global Retail and e-commerce.
A very, very important pillar for us, mainly as regards to brand awareness and as well the, you know, consumer attachment to the brand. Last year, as you can imagine, you know, they had a huge sales growth against 2020, with the lockdowns of course we had. The whole growth, roughly one quarter of our growth last year was due to the recovery of Global Retail. Now, the shop design we improved, and mainly I think what comes in here, we have now e-shops operating in most of our countries, and they have a very important job within our whole setup. E-sales is not kind of just the branded sales or let's say lindt.com or ghirardelli.com. That is one thing. We have then click and mortar. That is our retail partners that have as well their own retail shops.
We have the platforms, those are the Amazons and the Ocados of the world, and as well, you know, in Japan and in China, very strong. I think with the stores and wholesale, that has to work as one piece, as one umbrella, because we have to make sure that the consumer, we welcome the consumer on all those sales channels the same way. We make as well, you know, the access across all those channels as easy as possible with the same message. I think, you know, that is something that, you know, you will see even further in the future, and as well, that is a big part of our future activities. Now, with that, I basically come to the end of my part, and I ask Martin to lead you and guide you through the financial figures. Thank you.
Thank you, Dieter. Welcome as well from my side. I can tell you it really feels great to have so many people here in the room again and be able, after two years of online meetings, to present in person and hopefully receive lots of interesting questions as well at the end of the meeting from you here in the room. Of course, everyone online as well. It's, I think, one of the good things we also got used to, these hybrid meetings. We have lots of guests as well online who can participate live. Really good news. In terms of the financial numbers as well, lots of good news. You know, Dieter already elaborated on it.
I think, you know, organic sales growth, we came in at 13.3%, which is in line with our guidance. You know, you may remember in July we guided for the low double digit, but a low double digit number. We came in at 13.3. I think that's good. We published that already in January as well. EBIT, you know, we came in slightly above the guidance. One year ago, we guided for 13%-14%.
In July, at half year, we brought this up and we said, "Okay, it's going to be at the higher end of 13%-14%." Now we came in at 14.1%, despite, you know, all the supply chain costs, additional costs we basically had, especially in the U.S., we slightly overachieved the guidance. I think that's also good news. Net income margin, no big surprise here. You know, from a tax rate perspective, we were in line with the guidance and with the expectation, 21%. Net income margin of 10.7%. You know, I think one key highlight of today for sure is the free cash flow. The free cash flow came in at almost CHF 600 million, so that's 12.8%.
That's basically the third year in a row where we have a free cash flow ratio to sales of around 13%. I will talk about this a bit later, but I think that's definitely higher than probably most of you have expected. Net debt, as a consequence, came in at CHF 295 million, despite, you know, the fact that actually we are working on the share buyback, and we have bought back more than CHF 400 million at the end of 2021. We are well on track with the share buyback. I think we will actually finish it even a bit earlier. You know, the term is till the end of 2022, but at the current pace, we will actually finish it by end of June, end of July already.
Considering that, I think also thanks as well to the free cash flow, we have a very good position on the net debt. Shareholder return, Dieter mentioned it, CHF 1,200 is what we are going to propose to the AGM. I think what is worth mentioning is, this is basically the 27th time in a row that we are increasing the dividend. Since 1994, we have increased the dividend each single year. That, you know, at, with the share price at the end of 2021, the dividend yield was 1%. Now at the current share price, it's a bit higher, about 1.2%. Payout ratio is a bit higher than, let's say 2-3 years ago, prior to the pandemic. We are at 60%.
In the past, typically we were at 50%. You know, if you can actually achieve the financial goals in the next years, this payout ratio most likely will come down gradually again towards 50% in the next years. Share buyback, I've mentioned already, you know, CHF 445 million was the value that we had purchased back. The market cap at the end of last year was CHF 30 billion for the first time, so we added CHF 9 billion to the market cap. Of course, what happened in the last few weeks, this came down. This is now about 20% lower. Still, I think, really good development as well from a market cap point of view in the last 12 months.
Organic sales growth I mentioned, you know, if you compare actually the sales number in 2021 versus 2019, growth is 6.4%, so this gives an average growth of slightly more than 3%. You can see that we are tracking slightly behind where we would be if without the pandemic. We have some areas where we are still below our 2019 numbers or still, let's say, the growth rate is slightly less than without the pandemic, mainly travel retail, which of course came to a standstill in 2020. We are recovering in 2021, but we are not back yet to 2019. Also our retail stores, we are currently at an index of about 90 compared to 2019.
These are just a couple of examples where we have still opportunity for the future growth to achieve the 6%-8% growth targets for the future. In Swiss francs, typically Swiss francs growth is actually below organic growth because the Swiss franc typically in the last years strengthened against the main currencies. This was not the case last year. The Swiss franc actually weakened slightly against the euro, against pound sterling, against the Canadian dollar and also the Australian dollar. It strengthened against the US dollar, but net we had a positive impact of 0.4 points. In total, in Swiss francs, we grew CHF 570 million, so we added quite a considerable amount of sales to the top line. What are the sales growth factors?
Actually one year ago, we already guided more or less when we were asked, "Okay, if growth rate, how much is coming from volume? How much is coming from price mix?" More or less half is coming from volume, and the other half is coming from price mix. 7% volume, 6.2% price mix. I think what is very positive to note is that, actually price is positive as well. We had some positive price actions in markets, in important markets like the U.S., like Germany, like Canada, like Australia. It's not only mix, it's also mix, but it's also price. I mentioned already the acquisition and the Forex impact, which both were slightly positive, 0.5%. Dieter has already talked a lot about the segment, so I'm going to be brief here.
I think Europe, the highlights for sure are Germany with double-digit growth, the U.K. with double-digit growth, Italy with double-digit growth. Big markets where we were able to grow double-digit. I think the other highlight is surely also Switzerland, our home market, where we were able to go into Migros and with actually quite a large portfolio. We also achieved a double-digit growth in Switzerland. Key driver of this growth in Europe, I would say from a category point of view, was mainly LINDOR and also some innovation. North America, a mixed bag, as Dieter mentioned, but still, I think a good achievement. We should also bear in mind that a couple of years ago, we announced the closure of 50 retail stores.
That closure program, you know, we announced it to happen between 2020 and 2022. We executed the share that was part of 2021 in 2021. We had definitely very positive performance in Ghirardelli and in Lindt. Dieter talked about Russell Stover. Within Russell Stover, we had actually a fantastic double-digit growth with sugar-free. Some areas in the Russell Stover business which actually performed despite of the fact that we had these issues in the supply chain. Online was another big highlight, I think, in North America, where we grew double digit as well. Rest of world, around 20% growth. Highlights here surely are the key markets Brazil, Japan, China and South Africa.
I think also worthwhile to note is Australia and New Zealand, which was quite impacted by the pandemic, and there we were also able to grow mid-single-digit. That was a short overview about our sales performance. I think we should now move to the costs. Material costs, quite a nice improvement here. You know, we came from 35% ratio to 33% despite the fact that we have of course as well higher packaging material costs. We have some higher raw material costs as well, like in milk, like in non-cocoa fat. On the cocoa side, which is our most important raw material, I think we made early decisions to hedge at good levels.
We were able to hedge actually cocoa beans at good levels early on, and we were also able to buy cocoa butter, cocoa butter ratio early on at very good prices. That basically led to the fact that material costs overall came down by 200 basis points. Going forward, there is some pressure here, of course, packaging especially, milk, non-cocoa fats. Then you have some which are a bit better, like hazelnuts, almonds, and cocoa, I will talk about in the next chart. I'm expecting material costs to go slightly up in the 2022 numbers. Nothing dramatic as we, I think we are well positioned again with the cocoa. You see that here, actually, cocoa, we saw a surplus in the 2020-2021 crop.
In the 2021-2022 crop, we will see a deficit actually, supply demand of about 200,000 tons. You can see here the market was a bit nervous in the recent weeks as well, driven of course by inflation. It's not really clear, okay, inflation is coming also on the chocolate. Different factors as you can see. I mean, the cocoa futures were trading between 1,615 and 1,850 in the last two years. Currently we are at around 1,750. This I think is a level which is not that different from where we were one year ago. I'm expecting cocoa future, cocoa bean prices only to go up slightly for us in 2022.
On the other side, cocoa butter has come down even more. We are now roughly at 220 versus 231 one year ago. You can see, let's say if you now add cocoa beans and cocoa butter, I'm expecting a very similar cost for cocoa in 2022 compared to 2021. That's good news considering all the inflationary trends in general in the market. Personnel expenses came in higher, CHF 100 million higher. The main driver here is really the retail. It's good news, you know. Most of our stores were opened in 2021 during the entire year. That's good news. I think, for once, you know, as a CFO to say, the costs are going up, it's good news because that also drove sales. The ratio came down.
You know, that's also good news, 21.5% versus the 22. I'm also expecting this number to go further up a bit, but the ratio to come down, right? Absolute, we'll see higher numbers in 2022, but I'm expecting the 21.5, the ratio to be lower in 2022 as we will have some economies of scale. Number of employees came up by about 600. Dieter mentioned it. You know, we had actually, you know, not enough labor in some of our factories, 600 during some times. So I'm also expecting this number to go up because the situation has normalized and the business is growing. Operating expenses, you know, the key numbers in here are on the one side, advertising, and then on the other side, also logistics costs.
From an advertising point of view, we were able again to invest more money behind our brands. I mean, we actually had this strategy already two years ago. We announced it as well during the pandemic. Our goal is clearly to invest, to heavy up on investment behind our brand to drive growth. As you can see in the numbers, I think this strategy's paying dividends. We did actually the same in 2021. We definitely heavy up advertising once more. At the same time, we also, as everybody else, we had additional logistics costs in the U.S., particularly in the U.S., but also in other markets. That led to this increase in costs of about $150 million in this cost category here.
The ratio also remained flat compared to 2020 and is higher than in 2019. We are 26%. I think in the next few months we will see here also an increase in costs, logistics, especially fuel. You know, as you obviously know, we see a big increase in fuel costs. We will again invest behind the brand. The cost ratio may go slightly up or remain roughly at the same level. I'm not expecting a massive increase here overall, but the percent may go up slightly in 2022. Depreciation, in here, we actually also have the depreciation from the leasing asset, you know, since 2019. That's between CHF 70 million and CHF 77 million here. You can see in 2021, it's CHF 77 million.
If you exclude that, our depreciation in total was at CHF 200 million, which is more or less at the same level in the last three years. In 2019, we also had an extraordinary impairment in there of CHF 52 million, so we should also reduce that. 2019 was actually also the base depreciation was at CHF 200 million, and it remained at that same level in the last couple of years. When we compare versus 2018, we increased the depreciation by 20 million, and the driver of that is really our CapEx programs in our factories to, on the one side, increase efficiency, on the other side, also to create capacity for our future growth. Okay, operating profit, I'm not going to talk about that too much in detail. You've seen this number.
I think, of course, it's a good development, CHF 220 million additional EBIT. That's growth of more than 50%, 14.1. I think it's really nice landing, exactly spot landing, you know, where we wanted to be at 14%, 14.1. Really good achievement here. When we break this down, I think especially analysts in here and also online, I'm sure you have looked at the different segment EBIT ratios. I think I'm going to start here in the middle, North America. We came in at 7.7%. You know, of course, the Russell Stover performance had an impact to the initial logistics costs, you know, additional labor costs.
The lack of labor, of course, it meant we had to pay more for labor in general to get labor in. That had an impact on the North American EBIT margin. We came in at 7.7%. That's below our own internal ambitions. You know, going forward, as the situation has normalized, and as we are, in general, very positive about the North American business top line and bottom line, I'm expecting in 2022 an improvement here. I think we'll be somewhere in the range of 9%-10% EBIT margin in 2022. Europe and rest of the world, I think a very good development. You can see Europe, you know, came from 14.4%-18% more or less, and rest of world from around 9%-16% EBIT margin.
Good development in those two segments. I think we will also see continuous improvements here, small steps also in Europe and rest of the world in the next years to come. EBITDA, also record number here, CHF 920. That's 20% EBITDA margin, in line with 2019. In 2019 we had the extraordinary impairment in there also in the EBITDA number. I think it was really a very good year with regards to the EBITDA with the growth of more than 30%. Free cash flow, definitely one of the key highlights, I think. You know, we have been able to generate very positive operating cash flow, driven of course, by the profit and the positive net income development. We have also been able to manage quite successfully the net working capital again, after 2020, again in 2021.
CapEx came in below our own guidance and below our own, let's say, project list, if you wanna put it that way. We came in at about CHF 240 million versus the guidance of CHF 300 million. You know, of course, we also were focusing the labor more on the production volume and making sure we get those tons out of the doors compared to, you know, doing every project. I mean, there were some projects that were, again, delayed. Now going forward, we expect that to basically be higher, this number. You know, for 2022, we expect CapEx definitely to come in somewhere in the CHF 280 million-CHF 300 million range.
A lot, of course, is driven by Olten, you know, by our cocoa liquor plant and its extension, and then also North America, right? I mean, we have talked in the past many times about Stratham and the build-out of Stratham, our lead factory there on the East Coast. Yes, we will definitely continue with that project and see CapEx for that increase in 2022. The tax rate came in at 21%, right spot on and as guided. 2019 and 2020 was higher. We had some extraordinary one-off impacts there, especially in 2019 we had quite a high one-off impact, but also in 2020. Both impacts came really from the Swiss tax reform, right, which came into play.
Now going forward, I'm expecting taxes in Switzerland to go up, related or linked to this Swiss tax reform. I'm also expecting the U.S. taxes to go up, or let's say taxes to go up due to the U.S. because the U.S. is growing over proportionally, and the tax rate in the U.S. is actually higher than our average tax rate. Over the next years, that will also drive the tax rate slightly up. In the next years, expect something in the range of 22%-23%. Net income, you know, no big surprise here, right? We had a very nice development of about 50% growth in the EBIT margin. We had tax rate as expected, so also net income came in as expected at CHF 490, 10.7%.
I think a very nice performance here with more than 50% growth. The net financial position, I think, ended actually better than expected, as I mentioned. On the one side, we had this very positive free cash flow for close to CHF 600 million, driven by the very good operating cash flow and then the slightly lower CapEx, as I mentioned. Shareholder return was actually almost CHF 700 million. We had the dividend of CHF 260, and then we also had the share buyback of CHF 440 million. Therefore, we ended up at this CHF 295 million.
If you actually exclude the lease asset, which is, or the lease liability, which is about CHF 500 million, we would be even net cash positive with CHF 200 million. Definitely again, a good situation to be in, you know. This one coupled with the fact that also the equity ratio is quite healthy, it's 58%. I think, you know, in uncertain times, it's really good to have a healthy equity ratio, and it's very good to have a sound liquidity. Definitely we do have those two KPIs at good levels, and we are quite happy with that, actually. That was my summary on the financials.
If I just summarize once more the highlights, I think on the one side, a very good performance on the top line to 13.3%. Then on the EBIT margin, I think we came in slightly above guidance, you know, at 14.1%. In there, we have a few moving pieces, especially North America, you know, because of the supply chain costs, came in slightly below. Then Europe and rest of world came in slightly higher. We are very positive about the North American EBIT margin going forward, where we think we will get to 9%-10% in 2022. Then for sure, one key highlight was the free cash flow, which came in at almost CHF 600 million or close to 13% of sales.
Overall, I think really a good set of numbers, and I'm really happy, as I mentioned, to be able to present this to you here in person. Sustainability. I mean, Dieter already elaborated a bit on it. Sustainability is becoming more important, and, you know, we were just talking about this the other day, you know. In recent weeks, Dieter and I, we are spending hours and hours with our teams on this very important topic. You know, this is a financial presentation today, so I'm not going to talk, you know, to cover this topic to the same extent as I have just covered our financials. But I just wanted to make sure you are aware that we take this topic very seriously. We spend a lot of time on it.
I'm just going to give you now a very short update on where we are on certain aspects. This is not the full coverage of the sustainability topic. On the right-hand side here, you can see our sustainability plan. Behind the sustainability plan, you have lots of commitments. You know, behind each of these areas, you have commitments and projects. We are publishing quite a big booklet actually, where we talk about sustainability once a year, and that's going to be published in June again. In there, we will give you the update on all the commitments and on the projects, what we are doing, et cetera. I'm not going to talk about that today.
What I'm going to do today, I'm giving you a quick update actually on the new environmental commitments, because in 2020 we had achieved our former commitments on the environment. What are those new environmental commitments? The first one is really that we basically said, "Okay, we are not just looking at Scope 1 or Scope 2 in our supply chain. We are looking at the entire value chain, and we are defining measurable targets for Scope 1, 2, and 3 with the goal to reach net zero in the long term with regards to the emissions," right? We will actually announce the exact target in 2023. Together with the target, we'll not only talk about the target, we actually will also say, "Okay, how are we going to achieve this target?
What are the projects? What is really the roadmap to get there?" That's something that we will publish in 2023. We are working on it. It's a lot of work in the background. Dieter and myself, we are heavily involved ourselves as it's very, very important for us and for the company. In the meanwhile, we're also continuing to improve the greenhouse emissions, to reduce the greenhouse emissions in the production facilities by 2% per year by production, by volume produced. We have also the goal to reduce the water consumption between 2019 and 2025 by 10% by volume produced. We have published new packaging commitments. I talked about that actually when we published the half-year results in July.
I'm not sure if everybody has seen that presentation, I thought it's good if you can once more hear what those packaging commitments are, and I'm going to read them out. They are actually for 2025. One, it's really sourcing 100% of our pulp and paper-based packaging from certified sustainable supply chains. Two, it's to make at least 50% of all our packaging from recycled material. Three, we continuously and proactively challenge our entire packaging portfolio and strive to reduce packaging materials used. Four, it's eliminating 100% of non-recyclable plastic and reduce total virgin plastic use by 20%. Five, make all our packaging 100% recyclable and reusable.
You know, whenever we have a product innovation, this is one important aspect, together with things like, you know, how can we improve cost or efficiency? How can we make sure food safety and quality will still be there? It's one important aspect of other aspects as well. This is, this was the summary on the commitments, on the new environmental commitments, and I'm now going to give you a short update as well on the farming program. You know, we kicked off the farming program almost 15 years ago in 2008. You know, it really has the goal to improve the livelihoods of our farmers, our suppliers in the different origins. You know, in 2020, we achieved the first important milestone.
I think this was really a great milestone we achieved. We achieved 100% of cocoa bean sourcing out of our Lindt Farming Program, so it's all traceable and also verified by a third party. At the same time, we also have the goal now going forward to achieve by 2025 the same on cocoa butter and cocoa powder. By 2025, we will also source 100% of our cocoa butter and of our cocoa powder out of Lindt Farming Programs, and it will be traceable and also verified. With that, I'm showing you now a short film as well on the sustainability program.
The cocoa beans in our chocolates are sourced through our own sustainability program, the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program. Since 2020, they are 100% traceable back to the farmers. This is the basis for supporting the farmers and their communities according to their needs and also improving their living conditions. In addition, the program is verified by an independent third party. Our commitment goes beyond. By 2025, we will also be sourcing cocoa butter and powder through sustainability programs. We wanna keep enchanting the world with chocolate and take on responsibility with sustainable and, at the same time, high-quality cocoa.
The Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program, I think in a nutshell, really, you know, working on the improvement of the livelihoods of the farmers. It's based on four pillars. You know, we work with more than 80,000 farmers in the different origins and also local partners. What is it about? You know, first pillar is really about traceability. We are actually registering the farmers. We are then mapping all the farms, you know, we know exactly where the farms are and the size of the farms, et cetera. Then we are tracing really each single bean from the farm to our chocolate manufacturing sites. You know, that helps us really to understand the farmers, the families, the communities better, and we can have a better impact there. Then secondly, it's about training and knowledge transfer.
You know, we really work together with the farmers on the farming practices, which then enables the farmers to become more efficient, to use more sustainable practices and to have a better output at the end of the day in their farms, which again, helps a living income, of course. Thirdly, really it's about farmer investments. You know, we are investing in the, with the farmers, with the families, with the communities in the areas of, you know, we are distributing tools, we are distributing seedlings for trees. We are handing out cash premiums for the cocoa beans. We are giving access to clean water. Also, you know, important of course, to avoid child labor, we are building schools in the origins and do everything possible so the kids can go to the schools.
Then the fourth pillar is really about verification. We have a third party that looks at the farming programs and looks at the traceability, et cetera. Again, giving us feedback, so where can we even get better, you know, it's important to have a benchmark also with programs of third parties. That's basically in a nutshell our Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program. That was, as I said, you know, a very short update on sustainability. It was not the goal to give you a full update. As I mentioned, though, in June, we are publishing the sustainability report where you will get the full update on all the projects and all the commitments we are working on in sustainability. Thanks a lot for your attention from my side.
With that, I'm handing over to Dieter Weisskopf again, who will talk you through the growth agenda.
Thank you very much, Martin. I already thank you now for your attention and patience. It took an hour, but you know, allow us when you are already here. You know, we give you really an update what's going on in our company here. Now I get to the growth agenda and outlook. There are three charts left, and I think you know, then we get to the question and answers. Now, talking about growth today in today's, say now, geopolitical environment, I'm sure that you will ask yourself, you know, "What is Lindt & Sprüngli doing that makes them confident that you know, growth in the future will be there for the shareholders?" Now, I think I have two charts for that. Now look at the left side.
Now, the left side is, you know, we made the 2021 financial year. Yes. But, you know, what can we rely on? We can rely on number one, and I think, you know, don't forget that in today's environment, more and more important, you know, most dedicated people. You know, you can ask everybody you want. Within Lindt, you know, it's a great product. It's high quality. I think, you know, as I said at the beginning, they are standing behind us, and I think that is the most important one we rely on here. The second one is clearly the brand established over 175 years and even more. The third one is the highest quality product we have.
We have an organization set up now across the globe, and you have seen over the last two years the resilience of our business model that is there. We have a very strong balance sheet with 58% equity to balance sheet and total, you know, all that is there. Nevertheless, if you look at the environment, you know, is that enough? What do we have to do? I think, you know, what is critical is, as a company, we have to adapt on an ongoing continuous basis that we can approach that market and as well adapt to the changes and the big changes that are ongoing in order to reach 6%-8% growth. Now, here again, it has been commented this morning, we were at 5%-7% growth. We now lift our expectation to 6.8%.
Now, what is the reason? The reason behind this, basically the same one that led us to reduce from 68% to 57%. That is inflation. Now, as you can remember, from 2014-2015 to 2021, inflation was something nobody really talked about because it wasn't existing. So if you went to the trade partners and said, "Hey, I want to increase." They say, "Why?" And if you had no reason and there was no reason, you couldn't increase. So that means, you know, when we talk growth, there is always a part and was a part inflation. You know, definitely looking into the future, at least the next 2-3 years, we think that, you know, we will have some adjustments in the prices. As Martin said before, you know, we are...
will be hit and are hit in a lot of areas, be it logistics, be it as well wages, clearly, and be it as well, you know, raw materials. Now, that is one reason. The other reason is as well. Clearly the point that we now as well see further growth and growth impact from countries that we entered or markets we entered only over the last 10 years. Now, that having said that is still not enough. Because what I said and mentioned just before, it is a continuous adaptation of our growth and model, of growth model.
Now, having said that, we decided about 1.5-2 years to embark on a journey where we just said, you know, we need a structured approach and we can on an ongoing basis, you know, just and focused basis as well, and in a structured way approach the challenges that are ahead of us, and that we are not basically losing time and losing as well a lot of energy management time in basically, you know, diverting into not so strategic projects. Having said that, if we want to grow 6%-8%, and that is now the target for the next years, if we want to improve our operating profit by 20-40, if we want to attract as well, you know, the talents we need in order to get into the project here, then of course we need to be structured.
We have six pillars. The one is the organization. The organization has to stay agile. We have seen companies that the bigger they got, they were becoming a little bit administrative and as well slow. We have to make sure that we are set up in an organization that remains alert, goes ahead, even if we grow that, in that percentage, as you can calculate yourself, where we get at in about 5-8 years. That's a certain risk. We have to make sure that the organization follows pace. Delight, that's another one. I mentioned that media environment is changing. Not only the media environment, but as well we have the consumers becoming more demanding. The consumer demands are more individual. We have to satisfy it. We have to strengthen product innovation.
We have to make sure we do the right things for the consumer, and we have to make sure as well that, you know, we never, ever give up quality and as well, you know, our pace of innovation. Second one, seamless, I mentioned that as well already. You know, it is not enough that we sell in wholesale. We have to make sure we play on all areas of the channels, and that is online, that is business to business, that is area of our own stores, and as well that is something that at the end, I mentioned that, has to be an umbrella and that the consumer is facing wherever they are shopping. You know, the same brand and the same equity of this brand and as well, and the easy access, you know, wherever they want to buy, they get Lindt.
Sustainability, that is again areas of raw material within a raw material, its traceability and the human rights issues. We have the second one, packaging, and we have the third one, greenhouse gas. I can tell you that mainly the last one, the greenhouse gas, will occupy us a lot over the next years and even decades. There will be a lot of efforts in that area, as you, I'm sure, have heard already from other companies in the food sector, and as well will absorb a lot of management time, and we have to act very focused here. And this goes into the growth agenda that we have internally and as well we see already the results with the emerging markets, big markets, income per capita growing and really ready as well for our Lindt products.
We need a structured approach to which new countries, when and to what extent and in what form we are going to enter. Now all those programs to the left, they of course have to be financed mainly, of course, advertising, media, but last but not least as well, very importantly, sustainability. Sustainability will cost us more cash and efforts in the future. We have to make sure that we get lean, we get efficient in production and as well we do everything that we can, free up cash in order to do the programs in the first five pillars. Now, all that is not possible without the fundament, and the fundament is people, and people means attracting best talents, and we have to be and become and keep our position as employer of choice. That is just a very small insight into the growth agenda.
In order as well to give you kind of a quick overview, you know, what can you expect from Lindt and as well what is Lindt doing in order to be, you know, now getting to such an outlook. Now, standing here and giving you an outlook for the coming year, I can tell you that is not an easy one because, you know, looking at all the geopolitical environment we are now in, standing here in March and giving you an outlook for the year, that's a very bold exercise, I can tell you. As well, I don't want to say now always subject to A, B, C, D, E, and at the end you will say, you know, subject to what are you going to make here a forecast?
I just say, you know, assuming from what we see today, you know, we are expecting for this year organic growth rate of 6%-8%, in all likelihood at the upper end of that range here. As well, we will see a relatively strong first half as well. Now, the operating profit margin, again here, subject to a lot of things, but, you know, we stand here and say, "Yes, we are confident we can reach this 15%." Medium to long term, as well, we maintain, I said already before, for the growth agenda, the 6%-8%. We will see more inflation in here in that figure, and we will have a continuous improvement of the operating profit margin of 20-40 basis points. That's basically my part on the growth agenda. Thank you very much for coming.
I think it was a pleasure having you here really in the room again. You know, please help yourself as always. You know it. Try the products. You will see as well outside some products that you know you might not have seen in the stores already. You know, I'm really interested to know what your tasting session will be at home. Thank you very much, and see you again latest in a year's time.