Jungheinrich is pressing ahead on its growth path and has closed the 2017 financial year with a considerable increase in all key indicators. In particular, this positive trend is driven by new truck business in the core market of Europe and strong growth in the logistics systems business.

In 2017, the global market for materials handling equipment recorded very strong year-on-year growth of 18%, or 213,000 units. Half of this was due to the extremely high demand from the Chinese market, which soared by 39%. Of particular importance here was the steep rise in the number of orders for IC engine-powered counterbalance trucks. Excluding China, the global market grew by 12%, according to the company. Strong demand was also noted in North America. Demand in Europe, Jungheinrich's core market, rose by 12%, with Western Europe up by 10% and Eastern Europe up by 20%.

The company has released its results for the year, showing an 11.3% increase in sales - from EUR3.085 billion (USD3.83 billion) to EUR3.435 billion (USD4.26 billion).

Jungheinrich chairman Hans-Georg Frey says: "Our strategic position - especially in respect of the megatrends of electric mobility, automation, digitalisation and interconnectivity - gives us a major edge. Thanks to our energy expertise, which is unparalleled in the industry, we managed to win the largest truck contract in the company's history in 2017 - more than 1,000 trucks, all fitted with lithium-ion technology. More and more customers are entrusting us with the automation of their warehouses in order to meet their intralogistics challenges in the field of e-commerce. As a result, Jungheinrich is successfully positioning itself as an innovative provider of tailor-made warehousing solutions.

"Jungheinrich is a different company compared to five years ago - since 2013, we have increased net sales by 50%, almost solely by organic means. We are now represented in 39 countries with our own direct sales operations. We will continue to pursue this course."

In light of the positive economic indicators on a global scale, Jungheinrich anticipates that growth in the global market for materials handling equipment in 2018 will be in the mid-to-high single-digit percent range.