Business situation and financial performance of the KION Group

Level of orders

Amid predominantly favorable market conditions, the KION Group held its ground well against the competition in 2025 and increased the value of its order intake by a substantial 13.4 percent to €11,705.5 million (2024: €10,320.9 million). It was particularly encouraging that both new business in the Industrial Trucks & Services segment and the project business (business solutions) in the Supply Chain Solutions segment contributed to this growth, registering sometimes considerable year-on-year improvements in order intake. Furthermore, the service business recorded higher orders than in the previous year in both segments, with slight growth in the Industrial Trucks & Services segment and much stronger momentum in the Supply Chain Solutions segment.

The KION Group’s order book had swollen to €4,683.7 million at the end of 2025 (December 31, 2024: €4,635.1 million). Currency effects had an adverse impact on the order book, reducing it by €231.5 million.

Revenue

As expected, consolidated revenue was slightly lower than in the previous year, reducing by 1.8 percent to €11,297.2 million in 2025 (2024: €11,503.2 million).

Revenue generated from external customers in the Industrial Trucks & Services segment declined by 4.0 percent to €8,253.0 million (2024: €8,593.5 million). This was due to a fall in revenue from new business as a result of the smaller order book at the start of 2025. The order book has now normalized, having been at an exceptionally high level in previous years. The decline was partly offset by a rise in revenue in the service business.

In the Supply Chain Solutions segment, revenue generated from external customers rose by 4.7 percent to €3,042.8 million (2024: €2,906.2 million). This was due not only to the continued robust growth of the service business, but also to a year-on-year rise in revenue in the project business (business solutions) resulting from the rebound of order intake, especially in the first half of 2025.

The proportion of consolidated revenue attributable to the service business increased to 48.2 percent (2024: 46.1 percent) owing to the smaller contribution to revenue from new business in the Industrial Trucks & Services segment.

Revenue by sales region

In the EMEA sales region (western Europe, eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa), the KION Group recorded a moderate decrease in revenue of 2.3 percent compared with the previous year. The main reason for this was lower revenue in major western European markets in the Industrial Trucks & Services segment, most notably Germany and France. However, the Supply Chain Solutions segment, which generates a much smaller share of its revenue in EMEA compared with the Industrial Trucks & Services segment, achieved a much higher level of revenue in this region than in 2024.

In the Americas region (North America, Central America, and South America), revenue was only just short of the prior-year level (down by 0.6 percent) despite substantial negative currency effects. Recording stable revenue growth overall, the Supply Chain Solutions segment was able to maintain its strong market position, especially in North America. By contrast, the revenue of the Industrial Trucks & Services segment fell sharply in the Americas region.

In the APAC region (Asia-Pacific), revenue decreased slightly year on year (down by 1.0 percent) owing to negative currency effects. Both operating segments saw their revenue decline in China. However, this was mostly offset by the strong revenue growth of the Supply Chain Solutions segment in the rest of the APAC region.

Earnings and profitability

Key influencing factors for earnings

Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) fell sharply, by €276.9 million, to €500.9 million in 2025 (2024: €777.8 million). A key driver of this decrease in operating profit was the high level of negative non-recurring items in 2025, which increased significantly year on year to €201.1 million (2024: €27.9 million). Moreover, reduced earnings and profitability in the Industrial Trucks & Services segment had an adverse impact on the income statement for the Group as a whole.

The change in the cost of sales and in other functional costs is shown in the > table ‘Condensed consolidated income statement’.

The KION Group’s gross profit diminished to €2,950.2 million in the year under review (2024: €3,093.5 million). This was due to the smaller volumes and narrower margins achieved in new business in the Industrial Trucks & Services segment, which outweighed the significant improvement in gross profit in the Supply Chain Solutions segment. As a result, the Group’s gross margin narrowed to 26.1 percent (2024: 26.9 percent).

Selling expenses and administrative expenses rose significantly year on year, increasing by 7.6 percent to €2,196.1 million (2024: €2,041.4 million). This was largely due to the non-recurring items from the efficiency program that are included in this item. Functional costs also reflected the generally higher level of personnel expenses resulting from increases in salaries and collectively agreed pay and from higher variable remuneration components.

The Group’s research and development (R&D) expenditure amounted to €259.4 million, which was roughly at the prior-year level (2024: €259.6 million). Total spending on R&D – i.e. R&D costs plus capitalized development costs – came to €382.9 million (2024: €392.8 million). This equates to 3.4 percent of revenue, which was unchanged year on year (2024: 3.4 percent).

The ‘other’ item shown in the > table ‘Condensed consolidated income statement’ amounted to income of €6.2 million (2024: expense of €14.7 million). This item comprises the share of profit (loss) of equity-accounted investments, which amounted to income of €11.0 million (2024: income of €15.4 million), and other income and expenses in the income statement. Unlike in 2024, the net effect of currency translation had a tangibly positive impact.

EBIT and EBITDA

In total, non-recurring items amounting to an expense of €201.1 million (2024: expense of €27.9 million) and effects from purchase price allocations amounting to an expense of €86.6 million (2024: expense of €111.5 million) were recognized in the Group’s EBIT.

The non-recurring items chiefly comprised the expenses of €168.8 million in connection with the measures under the efficiency program, which have now largely been completed. Among the other notable non-recurring items recognized in the reporting year were impairment losses of €12.3 million on capitalized development costs for product technologies that are no longer used in the Supply Chain Solutions segment and a deconsolidation loss totaling €12.2 million that arose on the disposal of a subsidiary. The higher purchase price allocation effects recognized in 2024 had included additional expenses in connection with the impairment recognized on the goodwill of the KION ITS Americas Operating Unit in an amount of €22.4 million.

The KION Group’s EBIT adjusted for non-recurring items and purchase price allocation effects (adjusted EBIT) decreased to €788.6 million (2024: €917.2 million) owing to the decline in earnings and profitability in the Industrial Trucks & Services segment. The adjusted EBIT margin fell from 8.0 percent in 2024 to 7.0 percent.

The Group’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) decreased year on year to €1,700.6 million (2024: €1,917.0 million). Adjusted EBITDA was also down, falling to €1,867.5 million (2024: €1,945.0 million). The adjusted EBITDA margin therefore stood at 16.5 percent (2024: 16.9 percent).

ROCE

Return on capital employed (ROCE) (see > table ‘Return on capital employed (ROCE)’), which is the ratio of adjusted EBIT to capital employed, fell year on year to 7.7 percent at the end of 2025 (December 31, 2024: 8.7 percent) as a result of the decline in earnings.

Net financial expenses

Net financial expenses, representing the balance of financial income and financial expenses, amounted to €147.4 million in 2025 and thereby improved by €40.6 million year on year (2024: €188.0 million). Within this total, the interest expense on financial debt fell to €53.7 million (2024: €61.3 million) owing to the progressive reduction of net financial debt. Other significant changes included a marked improvement in net interest income/expense from the lease and short-term rental business to a net expense of €41.1 million (2024: net expense of €86.4 million). Net interest income of €5.5 million was realized on interest-rate derivatives used for hedging purposes in the lease business (2024: net interest income of €41.3 million), thereby having less of a positive impact on net financial expenses than in the previous year. Changes in the fair values of interest-rate derivatives and adjustments to the valuation of lease receivables designated as part of a fair value hedge made a small negative contribution of €1.6 million to net financial expenses (2024: negative contribution of €9.9 million). Net financial expenses were also weighed down by the income and expense resulting from currency translation, which amounted to a net expense of €3.1 million (2024: net expense of €12.7 million).

Income taxes

The Group’s income tax expenses declined significantly year on year to €113.0 million (2024: €220.5 million). In addition to the lower earnings before tax, this was primarily due to deferred tax income in connection with the annual reduction in the German corporate income tax rate that will start in 2028 (€38.0 million on a net basis). The Group’s tax rate fell accordingly to 32.0 percent (2024: 37.4 percent).

Net income and appropriation of profit

Net income amounted to €240.5 million in 2025 and was thus substantially lower than in the previous year (2024: €369.2 million) due to the adverse impact of high non-recurring items in the reporting period. The proportion of net income attributable to non-controlling interests stood at €10.4 million (2024: €8.9 million). The net income attributable to the shareholders of KION GROUP AG thus totaled €230.1 million (2024: €360.3 million). Both basic and diluted earnings per share attributable to the shareholders of KION GROUP AG came to €1.75 (2024: €2.75) based on 131.1 million no-par-value shares (2024: 131.1 million). As had also been the case in 2024, there were no dilutive effects in the reporting year.

The distributable profit of KION GROUP AG for the 2025 financial year came to €141.6 million (2024: €223.7 million). The Executive Board and Supervisory Board will propose to the Annual General Meeting in 2026 that an amount of €81.3 million be appropriated for the payment of a dividend of €0.62 per dividend-bearing share. This equates to a proposed dividend payout rate of around 35 percent of the net income attributable to the shareholders of KION GROUP AG.