Industrial Trucks & Services segment

Business performance and order intake

In 2021, the Industrial Trucks & Services segment generated strong growth in the new truck business across the entire product range. Because the recovery had already begun to gather pace over the course of 2020, the year-on-year increase in the second half of 2021 was less pronounced than in the first half. However, demand picked up again in the market as a whole, providing a further boost to orders at the end of the reporting year. The total number of new trucks ordered rose by 51.0 percent to 299.4 thousand (2020: 198.3 thousand), driven by pent-up demand from previous years and orders brought forward.

In absolute terms, this increase was primarily attributable to higher order intake for counterbalance trucks, with a noticeable trend toward electric forklift trucks. Despite growing competition from Chinese providers in the EMEA region, order intake almost matched the rapid growth of the market as a whole. In the APAC region, the KION Group saw a sharp rise in the number of counterbalance truck orders, primarily due to an increase in the number of trucks ordered in China. Orders for warehouse trucks in the APAC region went up at an even stronger rate. The highest percentage increases were achieved in the Americas region, enabling the segment to capture additional market share. In the North American market, orders for both counterbalance trucks and warehouse trucks more than doubled.

The total value of order intake rose by 40.9 percent to €8,166.3 million (2020: €5,796.8 million). New truck business jumped by 68.5 percent, reflecting the particularly high growth rates for counterbalance trucks, which command higher unit prices than warehouse trucks. The order volume also increased across all categories in the service business. Currency effects had only a marginal negative impact on order intake, reducing it by a total of €8.6 million.

Revenue

At €6,514.0 million, total revenue in the Industrial Trucks & Services segment was up by 13.8 percent on the previous year (2020: €5,723.4 million). Revenue in the new truck business went up by 13.5 percent, despite the bottlenecks in the procurement of components and raw materials. All product categories recorded a year-on-year rise, with particularly big increases in the warehouse truck and electric forklift truck categories. The service business registered an increase of 14.1 percent, thus outstripping the high rate of revenue growth for new truck business. This was thanks not only to significant increases in the aftersales business but also to the used truck business.

At 52.3 percent, the proportion of the segment’s external revenue attributable to the service business was slightly higher than in the previous year (2020: 52.1 percent). Currency effects had a minimal impact on segment revenue, increasing it by €5.5 million.

Earnings

The adjusted EBIT of the Industrial Trucks & Services segment rose by €224.6 million to €536.0 million (2020: €311.4 million). This was mainly attributable to the increase in revenue. The segment’s gross margin was higher than in the previous year, partly due to the smaller increase in fixed costs. However, the positive effects on earnings of revenue growth and the savings achieved in the ongoing structural program were partly offset by negative effects arising from greatly increased material prices and logistics costs, supply bottlenecks, and the resulting production inefficiencies in the new truck business. Overall, the adjusted EBIT margin improved to 8.2 percent in the reporting year (2020: 5.4 percent).

The non-recurring items, which amounted to total income of €26.3 million and were recognized in functional costs, largely related to positive effects of plan adjustments affecting defined benefit obligations and the partial reversal of excess provisions for the capacity program. On the expenses side, however, the negative effects included the intra-group allocation of costs of KION GROUP AG to subsidiaries in the ITS segment. The prior-year figure, an expense of €44.9 million, had included adverse effects on earnings from the capacity and structural program as well as an impairment charge on an equity investment. After taking into account non-recurring items and purchase price allocation effects, EBIT rose to €560.5 million (2020: €265.6 million). Adjusted EBITDA increased to €1,297.9 million (2020: €1,054.9 million), giving an adjusted EBITDA margin of 19.9 percent (2020: 18.4 percent).