 KION's Q4 2019 results |
KION's latest financial report shows the German manufacturer achieved its group outlook for 2019 and, in some cases, comfortably exceeded it. Despite a very difficult market environment, the group's order intake rose by around 5% year-on-year and is likely to have reached around EUR9.1 billion (USD10.1 billion). This was attributable to a very good level of orders at the end of the year in both of the group's operating segments - Industrial Trucks & Services (IT&S) and Supply Chain Solutions (SCS).
Consolidated revenue jumped by almost 10% to reach around EUR8.8 billion (USD9.77 billion) and was also higher than in the outlook. Both operating segments contributed to the increase in revenue.
"We are one of the leading companies in our sector worldwide and, in 2019, we seized our opportunities and continued to press ahead with the KION 2027 strategy despite the challenging market conditions," says Gordon Riske, chief executive officer of KION Group. "Building on our successes in 2019, we will be focusing on strategic investments for the future in the new financial year. We are thus setting the course for our medium- and long-term growth."
Riske says the 2019 successes have encouraged KION to "forge ahead with our KION 2027 growth strategy".
"In 2020, we will be investing heavily in the expansion of production capacity worldwide. We are also broadening our range of products and solutions so that we can fulfil even better the specific needs of our customers across all industries and regions." KION will also step up software development for automation solutions and, at the same time, enhance its portfolio of energy systems.
The ongoing expansion of the global sales and service network will also continue, as will the group's digital transformation.
Looking to the year ahead, KION anticipates that the global market for industrial trucks will remain fairly flat in view of the ongoing geopolitical uncertainties and expected economic volatility. However, demand for supply chain solutions should continue to rise.