Overall assessment of the economic situation

In the third quarter, the KION Group continued its successful development seen in the first six months of the year. It therefore has the foundations in place for another successful year.

The total value of order intake again increased year on year in the third quarter, with the KION Group benefiting from the continuing good demand in Europe. Worldwide, the number of units sold in the nine-month period increased at a slightly faster rate than for the market as a whole.

The main driver of the rise in consolidated revenue was the growth in both new truck business and the service business, which was again at a high level despite continuing negative currency effects in the third quarter. The contributions from Egemin Automation (including Retrotech) also played a part in the rise in revenue.

There was a year-on-year increase in adjusted EBIT and the EBIT margin. Net income went up significantly, partly owing to improved net financial expenses following the restructuring and optimisation of the Group’s funding.

Level of orders

Order intake rose by 6.1 per cent, or €231.9 million, to €4,050.4 million in the first nine months of 2016. This was primarily due to strong demand in Europe. Egemin Automation – including Retrotech Inc., which was acquired in the first quarter of 2016 – contributed €117.1 million to the volume of orders. In the corresponding period of 2015, Egemin had only been included for two months, i.e. from August 2015. The increase in order intake was held back by negative currency effects, which reduced the amount by €82.9 million.

The number of trucks ordered advanced to approximately 129.9 thousand, which was 6.1 per cent higher than in the first nine months of 2015. The strongest growth was in electric forklift trucks, followed by warehouse trucks. Orders for IC trucks fell moderately year on year in line with the general market trend. However, the KION Group’s orders for IC trucks in the third quarter were higher than in the same period of 2015.

The total value of the order book amounted to €1,040.7 million, a considerable increase of 20.4 per cent on the value at the end of last year (31 December 2015: €864.0 million).