Jungheinrich is warning of a gloomier macroeconomic environment

German materials handling giant Jungheinrich is preparing investors for gloomy news ahead of its second quarter results announcement next month.

After a good start to the current financial year, Jungheinrich has recently registered a sharp fall in its customers’ investment activities, the company says in a statement.

"This is due to the gloomier macroeconomic environment and the related current developments in the market for materials handling equipment."

Jungheinrich notes that the global market shrank by 5% to the end of June, while in Europe, Jungheinrich’s core sector, the market has contracted by 7%. "Taking the month of June in isolation, the European market … fell by 16%," it reports.

"Under these circumstances, and in the absence of any positive economic and market signals, the board of management anticipates that this trend will continue for the remainder of the year. This will result in lower production figures in the second half-year 2019."

The board is downgrading its order expectations for the full year from the EUR4.05-4.20 billion range (USD4.54-4.71 billion) to between EUR3.0 billion and EUR4.05 billion (USD4.26-4.54 billion). However, group revenue is still expected to remain within the previous forecast range of EUR3.85 billion to EUR4.05 billion (USD4.32-4.54 billion).

The interim report for Jungheinrich AG as of 30 June 2019 will be published on 8 August 2019.