Comparison between actual and forecast growth

In the past year, the KION Group was able to fully met the forecasts for 2016 specified in the outlook section of the 2015 group management report – even without taking into account the effects arising from the acquisition of Dematic. The order intake of €5,553.0 million (excluding Dematic) was slightly in excess of the target range of €5,350 million to €5,500 million. With Dematic included, order intake was higher than the specified band at €5,833.1 million. Revenue excluding Dematic amounted to €5,327.7 million, coming in at the upper end of the target range of €5,200 million to €5,350 million, whereas including Dematic, the revenue of €5,587.2 million exceeded the forecast band. Adjusted EBIT without Dematic amounted to €527.2 million and was thus in the upper third of the target corridor of €510 million to €535 million; the adjusted EBIT margin of 9.9 per cent significantly exceeded the equivalent figure for 2015, as forecast. Including Dematic, adjusted EBIT amounted to €537.3 million, slightly higher than the specified corridor. This led to an adjusted EBIT margin of 9.6 per cent and therefore to an improvement compared with 2015. Free cash flow excluding Dematic, which was projected to fall within the range of €280 million to €320 million, amounted to €317.5 million at the end of the year and was therefore at the top end of this range. The effects from the Dematic acquisition led to a negative free cash flow of €1,850.0 million overall. In line with expectations, return on capital employed (ROCE) excluding the Dematic acquisition rose slightly to 12.4 per cent; with the inclusion of Dematic for two months, ROCE was 6.8 per cent and therefore below the corresponding figure for 2015. The following table shows the results achieved by the KION Group (both excluding and including the effects associated with the acquisition of Dematic) compared against forecasts. > TABLE 016