Revenue

Revenue totalled €4,494.6 million, down 4.9 per cent year on year (2012: €4,726.7 million). Excluding the hydraulics activities, revenue would have been just 1.4 per cent below the 2012 level. Currency effects of €74.8 million had a negative impact, the main contributing factors being the devaluation of the Brazilian real and pound sterling. Adjusted for these effects, revenue grew by 0.2 per cent on a like-for-like basis.

Revenue by product category

Revenue from new trucks amounted to €2,519.6 million, which was down significantly on the previous year (2012: €2,651.5 million) owing to negative currency and structural effects, among other reasons. Rising unit sales of warehouse trucks were unable to fully offset the decline in counterbalance trucks.

After a subdued start to the year, revenue generated by the service business rose substantially in subsequent quarters and climbed by 3.5 per cent year on year to €1,975.0 million (2012: €1,907.4 million). This largely offset the decline in the new truck business, which was mainly caused by currency effects. The proportion of revenue attributable to the service business grew from 41.8 per cent in 2012 (adjusted for the hydraulics business) to 43.9 per cent. All areas of the service business saw a year-on-year increase. In rental and leasing business, the growth was accounted for by long-term business and fleet management. There was also a rise in demand for aftersales services, with orders placed at short notice and spare parts generating particularly strong growth. The increase confirms the KION Group’s view that the postponement of orders for new trucks to replace old ones is pushing up demand for services. The volume of revenue from the used truck business was also higher than in the previous year. >> Table 016

Revenue by customer location

Revenue broken down by customer location predominantly reflects the absence of revenue from hydraulics activities in Germany, western Europe, Asia and the United States. Moreover, the declining volume of business in western Europe was primarily attributable to the German market, which did however stabilise again during the second half of the year. The KION Group registered a small rise in revenue in western Europe outside Germany.

In eastern Europe, the KION Group brand companies slightly exceeded the strong level of revenue earned in the previous year. Revenue increased particularly significantly in the Russian market, although the pace of growth tailed off in the second half of the year. There was a year-on-year decline in revenue in Asia: with increasing unit sales in the lower price segment, revenue decreased in the first six months and was not fully offset in the third and fourth quarters. A sharp increase in revenue in Brazil was attributable to the rise in demand for the KION brands’ industrial trucks that are tailored specifically to the local market. Expansion of capacity at the Indaiatuba plant to meet the increased demand had a positive impact.

Overall, the proportion of consolidated revenue generated by the KION Group outside Germany climbed from 74.1 per cent in 2012 to 75.2 per cent in 2013. In 2013, 25.3 per cent of consolidated revenue was earned in the fast-growing emerging markets, compared with 24.4 per cent in the previous year. The KION Group therefore moderately reduced its dependency on the western European market again in 2013 thanks to its strategy of growth in the emerging markets. >> Table 017