2020 was a year like none before. Starting with the unfolding of events in January, the pandemic has kept a firm grip on our world and our company. Many of our global operations have been at the epicenter of the pandemic, be it in China or in our northern Italy manufacturing facilities.

Equally important was our commitment to serve our consumers during the many lockdowns. Despite all the challenges, we did not have significant factory shutdowns and were able to provide essential products to our consumers even during the peak of the pandemic. Our service engineers went well beyond the call of duty and visited consumers' homes to repair and service our products.

We also stepped up in serving our local communities. We procured and donated millions of masks, gowns, sanitizers and other critical material to our local hospitals and front-line workers when they were not able to procure these materials themselves. We supported local organizations providing vital services to the most vulnerable in society, such as food banks, shelters and school meal programs.

The pandemic easily could have had devastating impacts on us from a financial perspective. Instead, what could have been a setback for us turned into the best year ever. COVID-related demand tailwinds, in particular during the second half of 2020 helped, but drove only a fraction of our outstanding financial results. Without a doubt, the early and decisive actions we took on the go-to-market and cost sides made all the difference. Many of these decisions were difficult and painful, yet necessary and impactful. Achieving an all-time record of ongoing earnings per share of $18.55^(b) is certainly a remarkable accomplishment—and this makes the third consecutive year of all-time record earnings^(b). We also made tremendous strides in delivering on our long-term value creation targets with an ongoing EBIT margin^(b) of 9.1% (against our long-term target of 10%) and a free cash flow^(b) of $1.2 billion (in line with our long-term target).

Despite the operational intensity with which we had to steer the business, we kept our focus on our long-term, globally aligned strategic imperatives.

• Deliver product leadership. With the changing competitive landscape it is more important than ever to lead the market with innovative, leading-edge designed products. The launch of our new global dishwashing platform, which ultimately will be produced in three of our global facilities (Findlay, USA, Radomsko, Poland, and Hefei, China), is a great example of true product leadership.
• Re-define what product is. Even though the adoption rate of IoT-based products is still low, we are committed to being at the forefront of this development and leading the industry with consumer-relevant product and service solutions. The launch of our Swash detergent, for example, coupled with the unique multi-dosing feature in select washers and our portfolio of IoT apps is a very encouraging innovation with true customer value.
• Winning the digital consumer journey. The advent of digital technologies has fundamentally changed both th e consumer pre-buy process as well as the actual purchase process. The pandemic has been a significant accelerator in this space, and we have been hugely successful in capitalizing on these trends—with our direct-to-consumer business rapidly approaching $1 billion in sales.
• Reinvent our value chain. World Class Manufacturing, digital and Industry 4.0 technologies in our factories allow us to make a step change in sustained cost and quality competitiveness. We are particularly pleased with our progress in creating best-in-class home delivery networks and in driving competitive advantage in our consumer service platforms.