Industrial Trucks & Services segment

Business performance and order intake

In terms of order numbers, new truck business in the Industrial Trucks & Services segment outperformed the global market in all key sales regions. Whereas the global market declined by 2.1 per cent, unit sales in the segment, at 213.7 thousand, were almost level with the high figure reported for 2018 (down by 1.4 per cent). The fall in forklift truck orders was mitigated by a moderate rise in unit sales of warehouse trucks, including entry-level trucks in the lower weight categories.

The value of order intake rose by 1.9 per cent to €6,330.5 million (2018: €6,210.6 million). Higher sales prices and the expanding service business contributed to this growth. > TABLE 014

Revenue

The total revenue of the Industrial Trucks & Services segment amounted to €6,410.2 million, an increase of 8.2 per cent compared with the previous year (2018: €5,922.0 million). Revenue from new trucks jumped by 11.2 per cent thanks to the strong order book at the end of 2018 and a small increase in sales prices. In the service business, revenue was up by 5.2 per cent year on year. The aftersales business, which accounted for 52.3 per cent of service revenue (2018: 52.1 per cent), increased by 5.7 per cent. In the used truck business, the segment reported a rise of 10.2 per cent. As a result of the disproportionately strong growth of revenue from new truck business, the share of external segment revenue contributed by the service business fell to 47.8 per cent (2018: 49.1 per cent).

Earnings

The sharp rise in revenue had a positive impact on the segment’s adjusted EBIT, which was up by 6.1 per cent year on year at €695.1 million (2018: €655.4 million). The fallout from the bottlenecks at suppliers that had continued to have an effect in 2018 no longer had any significant impact on segment earnings. The adjusted EBIT margin fell from 11.1 per cent in 2018 to 10.8 per cent in the year under review. This was due to higher development costs for work on innovation and to stronger growth of new truck business relative to the higher-margin service business in the reporting year. Non-recurring items – particularly relating to restructuring and reorganisation measures initiated in 2019 – and purchase price allocation effects amounted to €33.5 million (2018: €30.2 million). Including these effects, EBIT grew by 5.8 per cent to €661.7 million (2018: €625.2 million).

Adjusted EBITDA increased to €1,409.5 million (2018: €1,340.2 million). The adjusted EBITDA margin fell to 22.0 per cent (2018: 22.6 per cent). > TABLE 014