Level of orders

The KION Group’s orders were down significantly in 2023 compared with the previous year. In 2022, the Industrial Trucks & Services segment had recorded a high level of order intake thanks to customers placing their orders earlier in response to longer delivery times in connection with the supply chain situation and to the announcement of increases in sales prices. The total value of the KION Group’s order intake fell by 7.1 percent to €10,875.6 million (2022: €11,707.6 million).

The continued stabilization of the supply chain situation coupled with the improved availability of materials helped the Industrial Trucks & Services segment to work through the sizeable order book that had been built up in the prior year. In a weakening overall market environment in 2023, order numbers for new trucks in the EMEA and Americas regions were thus – as expected – unable to match the exceptionally high levels achieved in 2022. Over the year as a whole, the service business saw a healthy increase in orders.

In the Supply Chain Solutions segment, customer demand in the long-term project business (business solutions) was very muted, reflecting the situation in the global market for warehouse automation solutions. The segment generated an increase in order intake in its service business in 2023, benefiting from the maintenance, modernization, and upgrading of the solutions that it had installed for customers in previous years.

Although the KION Group managed to reduce the level of orders on hand over the twelve-month period, the order book was still at the high level of €6,362.1 million as at the reporting date (December 31, 2022: €7,077.8 million).