Linde Material Handling segment

Order intake in the Linde Material Handling (LMH) segment amounted to €843.8 million in the quarter under review, an increase of 10.1 per cent. The assignment of KION India to the LMH segment with effect from 1 January 2015 caused order intake to rise by €8.5 million. The key contributors to this segment’s strong performance were the western European sales markets, particularly France, the United Kingdom and Spain. LMH’s orders were also up significantly in Asia. In addition, the segment benefited from positive currency effects.

Segment revenue improved by 9.2 per cent compared with the first three months of 2014, reaching €787.3 million (Q1 2014: €720.9 million). The predominant factor in this uptrend was the increase in new truck business, which was in turn mainly driven by higher unit sales of warehouse trucks and electric forklift trucks. The segment also saw revenue rise in its service and rental truck businesses. KION India, which has been reported in the Linde Material Handling segment since 1 January 2015, contributed revenue of €6.8 million.

Adjusted EBIT amounted to €77.8 million, which represented slight year-on-year growth (Q1 2014: €75.3 million). The adjusted EBIT margin was 9.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2015 and therefore lower than the prior-year figure (Q1 2014: 10.5 per cent). > TABLE 08