Jungheinrich continuing to show clear growth

Aug 12, 2018 Warehousing Ireland News Comments Off on Jungheinrich continuing to show clear growth

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H1: Value of incoming orders +11 per cent and revenue +9 per cent
Orders on hand: +30 per cent compared to the end of 2017
Forecast 2018: Incoming orders and revenue at the upper end of the forecast

The Jungheinrich Group is looking back on a strong first half-year for 2018. In comparison with the previous-year period, significant growth was again achieved. In view of these developments, the Board of Management has substantiated its expectations regarding incoming orders and revenue for the current fiscal year at the upper end of the forecast for 2018.

Hans-Georg Frey, Chairman of the Board of Management of Jungheinrich AG: “We are seeing positive results at the end of the first half of 2018. Despite challenges such as the significant increase in staffing costs and prices of raw materials or the costs for the industry’s most important trade fair, CeMAT, we again achieved highs for revenue, incoming orders and EBIT. In addition to that, expenditures for research and development increased considerably. The growth was significantly driven by the new truck business and after-sales services. With orders accounting for five months of production, we have a positive outlook for the second half of the year.

Our substantiated outlook for the 2018 financial year: incoming orders and revenue are set at the upper end of the forecast, while EBIT is still expected to be in the range between €270 million to €280 million. Therefore, Jungheinrich is clearly on track with its strategic growth goals.”

Development from January to June 2018
The global market volume for material handling equipment increased by 15 per cent year-on-year in the first half of 2018. This corresponds to almost 107 thousand units. Growth rates gained momentum in Q2 2018, particularly for warehouse technology equipment. The driving force behind the increase in market volume was demand in the Asian market, primarily in China. The market volume in Western Europe increased by 12 per cent. Demand in Eastern Europe increased by 24 per cent thanks to Poland. 60 per cent of the strong year-on-year growth in North America was attributable to a significant increase in orders for IC engine-powered counterbalanced trucks.

The warehousing equipment product segment recorded global growth of 18 per cent or 54 thousand trucks, with over 40 per cent of this attributable each to Asia and Europe. The 11 per cent increase in global market volumes of battery-powered counterbalanced forklift trucks was driven above all by higher orders from Asia. Almost half of the global increase of 15 per cent in demand for IC engine-powered trucks was also due to significantly higher orders in this region. In all three product segments, demand on the Chinese market was the driver for high growth rates across Asia.

Incoming orders in the new truck business, based on units, which includes orders for both new forklifts and trucks for short-term rental, totalled 67.4 thousand units in the first half of 2018, equating to a year-on-year increase of 6 per cent (63.3 thousand units). By value, incoming orders for all business fields – new truck business, short-term rental and used equipment, as well as after-sales services – came to €1,946 million in the reporting period, which is 11 per cent above the previous year’s figure of €1,750 million. Orders on hand for new truck business came to €897 million as of 30 June 2018, which is €189 million or 27 per cent higher than the previous-year figure (€708 million). 58.9 thousand trucks were produced in the first six months of the current year. This is 2 per cent more than in the first half of 2017 (57.6 thousand units). Group revenue of €1,784 million in the first half of 2018 was 9 per cent higher than in the previous-year period (€1,634 million). In addition to staffing costs increasing significantly and raw materials prices exceeding expectations, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) was negatively impacted by costs for the industry’s most important trade fair, CeMAT, and supply bottlenecks accompanied by price increases from some suppliers. Increased expenses for research and development have again been withstood in EBIT. Despite this, EBIT still increased by 3 per cent to €127 million in the first half of 2018 (previous year: €124 million). Earnings before taxes (EBT) reached €115 million at the end of the first six months (previous year: €117 million).

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