Financial performance

Overall assessment of the economic situation

In the first half of this year, the KION Group achieved significant growth in revenue and earnings. The total value of order intake also increased year on year in the second quarter. The KION Group benefited from the continued good order situation in Europe. Elsewhere, it expanded its market share in Asian and American markets despite the prevailing challenges. Overall, the KION Group’s orders grew faster than those of the world market as a whole. This was also supported by the progressive expansion of the premium range to include product platforms for the volume and economy segments.

Consolidated revenue advanced by 5.9 per cent year on year. New truck business and the service business contributed to this increase. In the second quarter, organic revenue growth continued to accelerate. The newly acquired Egemin Automation (including Retrotech) also played a part in this rise in revenue. Negative currency effects depressed revenue, however.

There were sharp year-on-year increases in adjusted EBIT and the EBIT margin. Profitability improved again in the second quarter, easily outstripping the first three months of the year with an adjusted EBIT margin of 10.5 per cent (Q1 2016: 8.1 per cent). Net income was slightly higher than in the first half of last year despite the one-off financial expenses incurred in the first quarter in connection with the restructuring and optimisation of the Group’s funding. Earnings per share stood at €0.97 (H1 2015: €0.94).

Level of orders

Order intake rose by 6.2 per cent or €158.6 million to €2,723.8 million in the first six months of 2016. Egemin Automation (including Retrotech Inc., which was acquired in the first quarter of 2016) had not been included in the results for the first half of 2015 but contributed orders of €79.5 million in the period under review. Negative currency effects reduced order intake by €57.0 million.

The number of trucks ordered increased to approximately 89.2 thousand, which was 4.4 per cent higher than in the first six months of 2015. The strongest growth was in electric forklift trucks, followed by warehouse trucks. Orders for IC trucks fell year on year, although less pronounced than in the market as a whole. The total value of the order book amounted to €1,009.4 million, an increase of 16.8 per cent on the value at the end of last year (31 December 2015: €864.0 million). This growth mainly stemmed from Europe and Asia.