KION had a positive start into the financial year 2026, in line with its expectations. Order intake rose significantly in an environment of major geopolitical uncertainties. Adjusted EBIT and adjusted EBIT margin increased noticeably year-on-year. Revenue in Q1 2026 was close to previous year’s level.
2026-04-30
At € 2.985 billion (Q1 2025: € 2.706 billion), order intake on Group level grew significantly year-on-year and remained broadly unaffected by the Iran war. Order intake at Industrial Trucks & Services rose by 4.2 percent to € 2.041 billion (Q1 2025: € 1.958 billion). The number of industrial trucks ordered rose by 11.3 percent to 72,600, benefiting from significant growth in counterbalance trucks and warehouse equipment. The increase in new business contained pull-forward effects related to the price increases announced for early April 2026 intended to offset rising costs resulting from the Iran war. The service business declined slightly year-on-year.
Order intake in the Intelligent Automation Solutions segment increased significantly by 25.9 percent to € 951.2 million (Q1 2025: € 755.7 million). Project business (Business Solutions) recorded a significant upturn compared to the first quarter of 2025 driven by improved market dynamics and achieved a strong increase in orders among pure-play e-commerce and other customer segments. The service business continued to perform robustly.
“KION had a positive start in 2026, with order intake and profitability increasing in both operating segments. In an environment of rising geopolitical uncertainties, KION proves resilience: We confirm our outlook for 2026. In the first quarter, we drove our ecosystem partnerships forward with Siemens, NVIDIA and Accenture and achieved significant progress in developing innovative, physical AI solutions for our customers.”
Group revenue in the first quarter of 2026 was € 2.771 billion, roughly on par with the prior-year period (Q1 2025: € 2.788 billion). In the Industrial Trucks & Services segment, revenue fell by 4.9 percent to € 2.012 billion (Q1 2025: € 2.116 billion). New business noticeably declined in revenue due to the lower order backlog from the previous year. Service business was slightly down year-on-year. Revenue in the Intelligent Automation Solutions segment increased by 11.7 percent in the first quarter to € 768.1 million (Q1 2025: € 687.7 million). Project business (Business Solutions) achieved a significant increase driven by the improved order book.
Adjusted EBIT on Group level increased to € 205.2 million (Q1 2025: € 195.5 million), corresponding to an adjusted EBIT margin of 7.4 percent (Q1 2025: 7.0 percent). Adjusted EBIT in the Industrial Trucks & Services segment declined slightly to € 182.9 million (Q1 2025: € 185.5 million), with an improved adjusted EBIT margin of 9.1 percent (Q1 2025: 8.8 percent). The lower revenue volume was compensated by cost savings from last year’s efficiency program. At € 46.2 million, Intelligent Automation Solutions significantly increased adjusted EBIT year-on-year (Q1 2025: € 36.4 million) and achieved an adjusted EBIT margin of 6.0 percent (Q1 2025: 5.3 percent) driven by the increased earnings contribution from the project business.
With € 92.2 million (Q1 2025: € –46.9 million), net income improved significantly – the result of Q1 2025 had been heavily impacted by one-time expenses related to the efficiency program. At € 47 million (Q1 2025: € 30 million), free cash flow was positive despite the variable compensation paid out in the first quarter and payments relating to the efficiency program.
KION today announces a strategic equity investment of 35 percent in ZIKOO Robotics, a leading provider of pallet storage robotics based in China. The company offers a range of solutions, including six-way shuttles and omnidirectional stacker robots, as well as an integrated software platform.
The investment marks a significant step in KION’s strategy to build an ecosystem of automation technology partners. With their expanded portfolio of automated warehouse solutions, both companies will deliver warehouse offerings that provide higher efficiency, better space utilization and greater flexibility for their customers.
You can find our business results for the first three months of 2026 at a glance in our
More detailed information on our business performance you can find in the
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