WarehousingIreland.ie – Jungheinrich Stays Course for Growth

Jungheinrich Stays Course for Growth

Nov 13, 2011 Warehousing Ireland News 0

Material Handling Equipment Market Posts Strong Growth/ Incoming Orders Markedly up Year on Year/Production Output Increased Considerably/Earnings Trend Further Improved

Hamburg—The Jungheinrich Group continued the course for growth it was on in the first half of 2011, closing the third quarter of 2011 with substantial gains in incoming orders, sales and earnings. In this context, the Jungheinrich Group’s earnings trend benefited from the increased plant capacity utilization in the third quarter of 2011 as well.

The dynamic development displayed by the material handling equipment market observed in the first half of 2011 carried over, although its rate of increase decreased significantly, as expected. The rise in demand in the third quarter of 2011 amounted to 18 per cent. Accordingly, by the end of the first nine months, the world market had expanded by a cumulative 28 per cent to 737.9 thousand forklifts (prior year: 576.9 thousand units). All regions contributed to this enlargement, recording growth rates that varied substantially in some cases. At 30 per cent, the rise achieved by Europe was encouragingly strong. While Western Europe posted a 27 per cent gain, demand in Eastern Europe recorded an even bigger gain, climbing by 48 per cent. Asian market volume was up 24 per cent. The North American market expanded by 31 per cent, essentially maintaining its rate of growth.

The value of incoming orders, encompassing all business areas, rose by a cumulative 17 per cent in the nine-month period to 1,632 million euros (prior year: 1,390 million euros). Due to the pull-forward effect caused by the price increase effective July 1, 2011, the gain in the third quarter was a smaller 5 per cent, lifting incoming orders to 497 million euros (prior year: 475 million euros).

Production output, which tracked the marked rise in incoming orders in the first half of 2011 with a time lag, grew by 23 per cent in the third quarter of 2011 to 19.1 thousand trucks (prior year: 15.5 thousand units). By the end of the first nine months, production output had thus advanced by some 31 per cent to a cumulative 56.1 thousand forklifts (prior year: 42.8 thousand units).

Net sales benefited from another increase in production output, climbing by approximately 15 per cent to 525 million euros in the third quarter of 2011 (prior year: 458 million euros). Consolidated net sales after nine months had risen by a cumulative 17 per cent to 1,512 million euros (prior year: 1,291 million euros). Nearly all the divisions contributed to the big uptick in net sales. New truck business posted the largest increase, gaining 28 per cent. Overall, the short-term hire and used equipment business recorded a rise of 6 per cent. After-sales services achieved a gain of 7 per cent, a strong increase for this division.

In the third quarter of 2011, operative earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) advanced to 38.3 million euros (prior year: 26.5 million euros). As in the preceding quarter, the corresponding return on sales was 7.3 per cent (prior year: 5.8 per cent). On a cumulative basis, nine-month earnings climbed to 106.2 million euros (prior year: 64.2 million euros). As a result, the comparable return on sales improved to 7.0 per cent (prior year: 5.0 per cent) surpassing the record level of 6.6 per cent achieved in 2007. Net income rose to 27.8 million euros in the third quarter of 2011 (prior year: 23.6 million euros). On a cumulative basis, it had risen to 76.6 million euros after the first three quarters (prior year: 48.4 million euros). Corresponding earnings per preferred share for the nine-month period improved to 2.28 euros (prior year: 1.45 euros).

Based on the dynamic market trend recorded in the first nine months, Jungheinrich still expects the world market to grow by over 20 per cent in size to more than 960 thousand forklifts for 2011 as a whole. Says Hans-Georg Frey, Chairman of the Board of Management of Jungheinrich AG: “The development of our company’s business will be dominated by growth and shaping the future through the end of 2011 and beyond, in order to generate profitable growth over the long term. To this end, we will improve our market share in individual regions and enlarge our sales footprint in the growth markets of Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America. Furthermore, we are making forward-looking investments, e.g. in the construction of the Qingpu factory and of the spare parts centre in Kaltenkirchen.”

Based on the expected market growth and the dynamic business trend witnessed this year, Jungheinrich confirms its forecasts for 2011, anticipating that incoming orders will advance to over 2.1 billion euros and that consolidated net sales will increase to substantially more than 2.0 billion euros. Building on this, the Jungheinrich Group will probably generate operating earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) clearly in excess of 130 million euros.

Jungheinrich ranks among the world’s leading companies in the material handling equipment, warehousing and material flow engineering sectors. The company is an intralogistics service and solution provider with manufacturing operations, which offers its customers a comprehensive range of forklift trucks, shelving systems, services and advice. Jungheinrich shares are traded on all German stock exchanges.