MOSOLF and APCOA Announce Partnership for City Logistics
Feb 29, 2024 at 5:19 PM
Webfleet Announces Partnership with Bosch
Feb 29, 2024 at 6:28 PM
The KION Group has significantly increased its profitability and free cash flow in the fiscal year 2023, despite a decline in demand in the global markets for industrial trucks and supply chain solutions, and has concluded the year with an overall very good performance. The strong momentum was mainly supported by measures to strengthen supply chains in both segments, optimized pricing in the Industrial Trucks & Services segment, and improvements in project management in the Supply Chain Solutions segment.
(Frankfurt) “In 2023, we took further important steps along our strategy towards sustainable and profitable growth,” says Rob Smith, CEO of KION GROUP AG. “We were able to significantly increase profitability in both of our segments and for the group as a whole. The improvements in our results, the commercial and operational measures initiated, as well as the organizational and personnel adjustments aimed at the future provide a solid foundation for our further business development.”
The group revenue for the reporting year reached a record level of €11.434 billion, slightly above the previous year’s figure (€11.136 billion) by 2.7 percent. It developed unevenly across the two operational segments. In the Industrial Trucks & Services segment, revenue increased significantly by 15.3 percent to €8.480 billion (previous year: €7.356 billion). This increase is mainly due to higher production and price increases implemented in the previous year. Additionally, the service business also saw growth. In contrast, revenue in the Supply Chain Solutions segment declined by 21.3 percent to €2.997 billion (previous year: €3.807 billion). The already declining order intake in the long-term project business (Business Solutions) significantly contributed to the revenue decline. Increased capital costs negatively impacted customers’ investment decisions for creating new warehouse spaces and thus also investments in warehouse automation. However, the stable and margin-strong service business (Customer Services) achieved an increase in revenue during the reporting period.
EBIT Doubled at Group Level
The EBIT adjusted at the group level more than doubled, showing a very strong increase to €790.5 million (previous year: €292.4 million). The adjusted EBIT margin improved significantly to 6.9 percent (previous year: 2.6 percent).
The Industrial Trucks & Services segment was able to achieve a double-digit adjusted EBIT margin of 10.0 percent with an adjusted EBIT of €848.5 million (previous year: €420.5 million). The Supply Chain Solutions segment returned to a positive adjusted EBIT margin of 1.5 percent with an adjusted EBIT of €44.3 million (previous year: -€45.6 million).
The group result was tripled to €314.4 million (previous year: €105.8 million). Free cash flow reached a strong €715.2 million (previous year: -€715.6 million) and benefited from the good earnings situation as well as improved working capital management at the end of the year.
Shareholders will participate in the good results of the fiscal year: The Executive Board and Supervisory Board of KION GROUP AG propose to the Annual General Meeting on May 29, 2024, a dividend of €0.70 (previous year: €0.19) per share for the fiscal year 2023. This corresponds to a total payout of €91.8 million. The payout ratio is around 30 percent with earnings per share for the fiscal year 2023 of €2.33. Thus, it falls within the targeted payout corridor of 25 percent to 40 percent.
Moderate Increase in Orders for Industrial Trucks Expected
For new business in the industrial truck market in 2024, the KION Group expects a slight increase in order numbers. This positive development is primarily due to an expected increase in the APAC and EMEA regions, while a decline in demand is anticipated for the Americas region.
In the supply chain solutions market, the KION Group, supported by market studies from Interact Analysis, expects a slightly increasing market volume in terms of revenue for 2024. It is anticipated that the ongoing automation trend and declining capital costs throughout the year will positively influence investment decisions in warehouse automation solutions. Furthermore, the projected sustained demand for mobile automation will have a positive impact on the supply chain solutions market. The medium- to long-term positive market trends in supply chain solutions are still considered intact by the KION Group.
Photo: © KION
