Industrial Trucks & Services segment

Business performance and order intake

The number of new trucks ordered in the Industrial Trucks & Services segment came to 268.2 thousand, which was down by 10.4 percent compared with the high volume in the previous year. Significantly longer delivery lead times prompted customers to bring their orders forward in the first half of 2022, while the market became increasingly sluggish as the year went on. The segment recorded moderate growth in the Americas and APAC regions during the reporting year, whereas there was a significant decline in the EMEA region.

The value of order intake rose by 3.2 percent to €8,425.6 million in 2022 (2021: €8,166.3 million) despite the fall in orders. The price increases introduced for new business ensured that order intake was close to the prior-year level. The main influence on the value of order intake in the Industrial Trucks & Services segment was the service business, which recorded a jump in orders of 9.1 percent. Almost all service categories contributed to this growth. The limited availability of used trucks meant that this was the only category where the value of order intake was merely at the prior-year level.

Currency effects boosted order intake by a total of €145.8 million.

Revenue

Total revenue in the Industrial Trucks & Services segment increased by 12.9 percent to €7,356.1 million (2021: €6,514.0 million). In the new industrial truck business, this was mainly due to the good progress made on working through the sizeable order book built up in 2021. During the second half of the year, the supply chains stabilized and the availability of materials improved, enabling the segment to ship more trucks to customers by the end of the year than had been anticipated. Another contributing factor was increased flexibility in production, which meant that many of the unfinished trucks were completed on time and shipped before the end of the year.

All product categories recorded a year-on-year rise, with electric forklift trucks notching up the biggest increase. However, customer orders secured in 2022 at the higher sales prices did not yet have a significant impact on segment revenue owing to the long delivery times. The service business generated encouraging growth of 9.5 percent, driven mainly by the aftersales and rental businesses. In the new business product category, revenue of €726.0 million was earned from the direct and indirect lease business (2021: €708.3 million). In the rental business product category, a sum of €560.2 million was attributable to direct and indirect lease business (2021: €537.5 million) and €545.7 million to the short-term rental business (2021: €463.0 million).

At 50.7 percent, the share of the segment’s external revenue generated by the service business was virtually unchanged on the previous year (2021: 52.3 percent). Currency effects boosted segment revenue by €121.1 million.

Earnings

The adjusted EBIT of the Industrial Trucks & Services segment dropped sharply to €420.5 million (2021: €536.0 million). The adjusted EBIT margin fell to 5.7 percent in the year under review (2021: 8.2 percent).

The boost to earnings from revenue growth was offset by the substantial negative effect of much higher costs for materials, energy, and logistics as well as production inefficiencies. Although the increase in costs was contained thanks to the operational countermeasures, the segment’s gross margin dropped significantly. Selling expenses and administrative expenses also went up year on year, with the rate of increase largely in proportion to the growth of revenue due to the volume of business.

After taking into account non-recurring items and purchase price allocation effects, the segment’s EBIT declined to €376.0 million (2021: €560.5 million). It should be noted that the prior-year figure had included the positive effects of reversing the excess provisions recognized for the capacity and structural program. In 2022, the non-recurring items for the Industrial Trucks & Services segment amounted to an expense of €42.8 million and mainly consisted of the impairment losses recognized on business in Russia in an amount of €32.4 million.

Adjusted EBITDA was €1,241.7 million (2021: €1,297.9 million), giving an adjusted EBITDA margin of 16.9 percent (2021: 19.9 percent).