KION has released its H1 financial results reporting a 3.5% revenue increase year-on-year. The German equipment maker says it performed well in the period “against a backdrop of heightened economic and geopolitical uncertainty”.

Revenue from the Industrial Trucks segment dropped y-o-y by 1.4% for H1 at EUR4.01 billion (USD4.62 billion), while increasing 2.4% quarter-on-quarter in Q2 (EUR2.07 billion – USD2.38 billion).

Intelligent Automation Solutions revenue jumped 17.6% y-o-y in H1 to EUR1.63 billion (USD1.88 billion), with total H1 revenue for the group of EUR2.92 billion (USD3.36 billion).

Order intake for the group fell 6.6% y-o-y in H1 to EUR5.79 billion (USD6.67 billion).

KION has narrowed its 2026 outlook – based on business performance during H1 and the current order backlog - from between EUR11.4 billion and 12.3 billion (USD13.1 - 14.2 billion) to 11.5 billion to 12 billion (USD13.2 - 13.8 billion).

Throughout the reporting period KION acquired a 70% stake in Belgian retailer Colruyt’s research and development subsidiary Smart Innovation NV to accelerate its development and industrialisation of next-generation supply chain robotics.

“The investment focuses on autonomous pallet trucks which navigate safely in the warehouse with high precision and efficiency, including the ability of autonomous loading and unloading of trucks,” KION states.

“These trucks have already been operating in Colruyt’s distribution centres for two years and will be now scaled in multiple industries by KION’s brands.”