Summary of business performance

Sales markets

In the first three quarters of 2019, order intake in the global market for industrial trucks fell short of the figure for the corresponding period of 2018. During the reporting period, intake of new truck orders declined by 4.4 per cent to 1,115.0 thousand trucks (Q1 – Q3 2018: 1,165.9 thousand trucks). In the EMEA region (western Europe, eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa), new orders went down by 7.2 per cent. The Americas region (North, Central and South America) saw a year-on-year decline of 9.5 per cent. By contrast, the APAC region (Asia-Pacific) generated slight growth of 0.5 per cent. Global new orders for IC trucks shrank by 7.4 per cent. There were also decreases in order intake for electric forklift trucks (down by 4.6 per cent) and warehouse trucks (down by 1.7 per cent). > TABLE 01

According to the KION Group’s estimates, the trend towards warehouse automation and towards sorting solutions and automated goods transport is continuing and it generated strong demand in the market for supply chain solutions. This trend was further bolstered by capital investment in connection with multichannel and e-commerce strategies. As before, a growing number of companies are investing in the expansion and optimisation of their warehousing and logistics capacity. This includes not only automated warehouse systems but also solutions for individual processes, such as picking and packing, and fully integrated end-to-end solutions.

Business performance in the Group

Despite challenging market conditions, the KION Group continued to successfully consolidate its position in the third quarter of 2019 and was able to capture additional market share in the Industrial Trucks & Services segment. In the first nine months of this year, the Group’s order intake, revenue and adjusted EBIT exceeded the high levels achieved in the prior-year period. One of the reasons for the strong revenue growth was that both segments had full order books.

The KION Group is investing over €60 million in the construction of a new factory for industrial trucks in Kołbaskowo, near Szczecin in Poland. The aim is to expand the Group’s production facilities in Europe and unlock even more of the market potential in this region. In line with the groupwide growth strategy, the new plant will produce Linde electric and IC counterbalance trucks, including model series that are currently manufactured at the factories in Aschaffenburg and Xiamen. The cutting-edge production facility in Poland is due to go into operation in early 2021.

Furthermore, the KION Group is further strengthening its leading position in the fast-growing Indian market by expanding capacity at the newly acquired industrial truck plant in Pune. The work to convert and modernise this plant should be completed on schedule in the fourth quarter of 2019.

In July 2019, KION GROUP AG and BMZ Holding GmbH, a provider of lithium-ion system solutions, signed an agreement to develop and manufacture lithium-ion batteries for industrial trucks in the EMEA region within the framework of a joint venture. By entering into this strategic alliance, the KION Group will underline its strategic focus on the development of more energy-efficient drive technologies for use in electric-powered intralogistics vehicles.