Jungheinrich maintains course for growth

Aug 10, 2012 Warehousing Ireland Materials Handling 0

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Sales Growth Across all Divisions/Incoming Orders Higher Year on Year/Positive Earnings Trend Continued

<> Hamburg—The Jungheinrich Group’s positive business trend was also sustained in the second quarter of 2012 and drove up both sales and earnings in the first half of 2012. All business areas made a contribution. Jungheinrich has a solid order base for the second half of 2012 and slightly lifted its growth forecasts for incoming orders and sales for the year as a whole.

 

Despite the continued drop in world economic momentum, the size of the global material handling equipment market in the months of April to June 2012 declined by 1 per cent compared to the good level it had in the first quarter of 2012, remaining essentially flat. Worldwide demand in the first half of 2012 totalled 489.2 thousand trucks—a marginal 3 per cent down on the 505.2 thousand units recorded a year earlier. The market’s regionally disparate development continued. Europe, Jungheinrich’s core market, experienced a downturn of 8 per cent, clearly lagging the same period last year. Western and Eastern Europe accounted for drops of 9 per cent and 4 per cent, respectively. Asia’s market volume contracted by 3 per cent compared to the first half of 2011, marked by a disproportionately steep decline of the Chinese market. The North American market posted a strong, 9 per cent increase.

 

The value of the Jungheinrich Group’s incoming orders encompassing all business areas amounted to 1,140 million euros in the first half of 2012, slightly surpassing the prior-year figure (1,135 million euros). In the second quarter of 2012, incoming orders declined by 6 per cent to 560 million euros compared to the very good figure posted in the same period last year (597 million euros), which resulted from bring-forward effects in the second quarter of 2011 caused by a price increase as of July 1, 2011. At 380 million euros as of June 30, 2012, orders on hand in new truck business were 51 million euros, or 16 per cent, up on the level at the end of 2011. The order range was four months.

 

Net sales in the second quarter of 2012 climbed by 7 per cent to 552 million euros (prior year: 515 million euros). Cumulatively, consolidated net sales rose by 9 per cent to 1,074 million euros in the first half of 2012 (prior year: 987 million euros). At 289 million euros, domestic sales in the first six months of 2012 were up about 10 per cent on the year-earlier level (264 million euros). Foreign sales advanced by 9 per cent to 785 million euros (prior year: 723 million euros). All of the business areas contributed to this growth. The largest gain was recorded by new truck business, which achieved a rate of increase of 12 per cent, driving up sales to 573 million euros (prior year: 510 million euros). The short-term hire and used equipment business expanded by a total of 9 per cent to 183 million euros (prior year: 168 million euros), primarily due to the significant rise in demand for trucks for short-term hire. Net sales generated by after-sales services climbed by 5 per cent to 331 million euros (prior year: 316 million euros), posting steady growth.

 

The Jungheinrich Group’s positive earnings trend continued in the second quarter of 2012. The rise in earnings benefited above all from the favourable product mix and the growth of the short-term hire and after-sales services businesses. Operating earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) rose to 38.2 million euros in this period (prior year: 37.6 million euros). Cumulatively, EBIT for the first half of 2012 improved to 72.7 million euros (prior year: 67.9 million euros). At 6.8 per cent, the corresponding return on sales by the mid-year point was slightly lower year on year (6.9 per cent), in part owing to the fact that research and development costs were more than 5 million euros higher than in the same period in 2011. Net income rose to 28.2 million euros in the second quarter of 2012 (prior year: 27.1 million euros), reaching a cumulative 53.2 million euros in the first half of 2012 (prior year: 48.8 million euros). Accordingly, earnings per preferred share improved to 1.60 euros in the first half of 2012 (prior year: 1.47 euros).

 

Jungheinrich expects the moderate growth of world trade to persevere, continuing to display significant regional differences over the remaining course of the year. Although the economic environment clouded further—especially in Europe—Jungheinrich expects the global material handling equipment market to shrink by a mere 2 per cent to approximately 960,000 units. Based on the prognosticated market trend and on condition that the development of business witnessed in the first six months continues commensurately, Jungheinrich expects incoming orders to exceed 2.2 billion euros along with consolidated sales of more than 2.1 billion euros. The sales trend will benefit from the high level of orders on hand as of June 30, 2012. Says Hans-Georg Frey, Chairman of the Board of Management of Jungheinrich AG: “The earnings trend in the second half of 2012 will be determined by demand in new truck business and the expanding after-sales and short-term hire businesses. Against this backdrop, I remain confident that the Jungheinrich Group can generate operating earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) close to the level achieved last year, as long as the world material handling equipment markets develop in line with our assessment. We are monitoring the Eurozone’s economic trend and the effects it may have on our markets very carefully.”

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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