Earnings

Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) increased by 7.7 per cent year on year to reach €181.5 million (H1 2014: €168.5 million). Although gross profit was up considerably, there were also increases in selling expenses, administrative expenses and development costs. Non-recurring items led to expenses of €14.6 million in the first six months (H1 2014: €9.5 million). Adjusted EBIT excluding non-recurring items and KION acquisition items amounted to €209.8 million (H1 2014: €196.9 million). The adjusted EBIT margin was 8.7 per cent, compared with 8.8 per cent in the first six months of 2014. Adjusted EBIT included expenses of €6.5 million in the second quarter, following a court ruling for a payment to a former dealer in France. Without this effect, the adjusted EBIT margin for the first half of 2015 would have been 8.9 per cent. > TABLE 05

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) reached €374.5 million, compared with €348.3 million in the prior-year period. Adjusted EBITDA rose to €388.0 million (H1 2014: €364.8 million). This equates to an adjusted EBITDA margin of 16.0 per cent (H1 2014: 16.3 per cent). > TABLE 06

The cost of sales increased by 7.7 per cent to €1,712.7 million (H1 2014: €1,589.6 million), slightly below the rate of growth in revenue. A fall in commodity prices and an improvement in the product mix had a positive impact on the gross margin. Gross profit totalled €708.1 million (H1 2014: €643.7 million). Selling expenses grew by 4.3 per cent to €294.7 million (H1 2014: €282.7 million), which was also slightly below the rate of increase in revenue. Development costs amounted to €70.7 million, a significant year-on-year increase (H1 2014: €58.2 million) that reflected expenses such as those for the Strategy 2020, innovations in drive technology and the implementation of global platform strategies. Administrative expenses were significantly higher in the first half of 2015 at €178.1 million (H1 2014: €155.8 million), also due to costs incurred in connection with the implementation of the Strategy 2020.

Currency effects and changes to collective bargaining agreements contributed to the rise in functional costs. The ‘Other’ item was lower than in the first six months of 2014 at €16.9 million (H1 2014: €21.4 million). This decrease was mainly due to expenses for a payment to a former dealer following a court ruling. The share of profit (loss) from equity-accounted investments, which are included in the ‘Other’ item, amounted to a profit of €6.4 million in total (H1 2014: profit of €2.4 million) despite the pro-rata loss from Linde Hydraulics. > TABLE 07

There was a substantial improvement in the balance of financial income and financial expenses, leading to net financial expenses of €43.3 million (H1 2014: €80.5 million). This encouraging decrease, which was a significant factor in the rise in earnings before tax, was the result of an optimised funding structure following the early redemption of two tranches of the corporate bonds in the second quarter of 2014.

Income tax expenses amounted to €43.9 million (H1 2014: €27.4 million). The €42.4 million increase in current income taxes to €67.6 million was largely due to the improved level of earnings. The tax rate was 31.7 per cent, which was slightly above the level of the previous year (H1 2014: 31.1 per cent).


Net income after taxes came to €94.3 million, which was up by a substantial 55.7 per cent compared with the prior-year figure (H1 2014: €60.6 million). Diluted and basic earnings per share for the reporting period rose to €0.94 (H1 2014: €0.60).