Rising global demand for warehouse and counterbalance forklifts has benefited leading German forklift manufacturers KION Group and Jungheinrich Group as they report significant improvements in their first-half financial results.

KION Group, which manufactures forklifts under the Linde, Still, OM, Fenwick, Voltas and Baoli brands, says compared to the first half of 2010, the group achieved "significant increases" in the first half of 2011 for order intake, revenue and earnings.

Order intake for the group rose to EUR2.353 billion (USD3.379 billion) in the first half of 2011, 28% higher than the previous year's EUR1.843 billion (USD2.646 billion). Order intake for new trucks jumped 26% from 59,100 forklifts to 74,300 forklifts.

Total consolidated revenue increased 31% from EUR1.612 billion (USD2.315 billion) to EUR2.113 billion (USD3.035 billion). The group's earnings before interest and tax rose from the previous year's EUR21 million (USD30.2 million) to EUR168 million (USD241 million) for the first half of 2011.

Jungheinrich Group has also seen a rise in incoming orders, sales and earnings for the first half of 2011. The company's business performance benefited from favourable world economic conditions, which resulted in "a significant enlargement" in the global materials handling equipment market.

As of 30 June, Jungeinrich's orders on hand from new truck business for the first half of the year totaled EUR418 million (USD600 million), or EUR137 million (USD197 million) higher than at the end of 2010.

Jungheinrich produced 37,000 forklifts in the first half of 2011, 35% higher than the prior year's 27,400 units. In the first half of 2011, the company's consolidated net sales jumped 18% from last year's EUR833 million (USD1.197 billion) to EUR987 million (USD1.418 billion). Jungheinrich's first-half earnings improved from the prior year's EUR37.7 million (USD54.2 million) to EUR67.9 million (USD97.6 million).

According to KION and Jungheinrich's market intelligence, global industrial truck demand reached about 506,000 units by 30 June, a gain of nearly 33% from the corresponding period in 2010. KION estimates that if the trend continues, the global market could beat the record of 953,000 units set in 2007.