KION Group remains on course for success following a very strong nine-month period

The value of the KION Group’s order intake amounted to €8.989 billion, which was 33.9 percent higher than the figure in the prior-year period (Q1–Q3 2020: €6.715 billion). Both operating segments contributed to this sharp rise. At €5.981 billion, the Group’s order book had grown by 34.7 percent compared with the end of 2020 (December 31, 2020: €4.441 billion).

Consolidated revenue went up by 25.6 percent to €7.534 billion in the first nine months of 2021 (Q1–Q3 2020: €6.000 billion). Adjusted EBIT jumped by 89.9 percent to €691.1 million (Q1–Q3 2020: €363.8 million) on the back of the good business performance in both operating segments. The adjusted EBIT margin improved to 9.2 percent (Q1–Q3 2020: 6.1 percent) as a result. Net income for the period came to €430.8 million, which was also substantially higher than in the same period of the previous year (Q1–Q3 2020: €132.5 million). Free cash flow amounted to €134.7 million (Q1–Q3 2020: minus €114.3 million). This robust business performance was also reflected in the number of employees worldwide, which increased by 2,750 (7.6 percent) to almost 39,000 full-time equivalents in the first three quarters of this year.

This included a strategic investment of around 20 percent in ifesca GmbH , a software firm specializing in the energy industry. ifesca’s energy management platform based in artificial intelligence (AI) offers a range of solutions for predictive and resource-efficient energy management. The KION Group has also joined forces with the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics to establish a joint Enterprise Lab in which the autonomous vehicle swarm known as Load Runner will be developed to market-readiness. The use of AI-based swarm technology should make it possible to achieve a higher speed and greater sorting capacity than with conventional systems.