Strengthening resilience despite good financial year 2024
Kion Group AG has initiated a new efficiency program. After a successful financial year 2024, Kion wants to secure its current momentum and maintain its scope for investment, according to its press release.
At the same time, Kion wants to further expand its leading role in the market in a rapidly changing macroeconomic and geopolitical environment.
"KION is at a pivotal point in its history. Our preliminary results for the financial year 2024 show that we can deliver strong results in a challenging environment," said Rob Smith, CEO of Kion Group AG. Regarding the product portfolio, Smith explains: "We are the first in the industry to work with physical AI from NVIDIA, creating the warehouse of the future and reshaping our industry."
Preliminary business figures
In the 2024 financial year, the provider of industrial trucks and supply chain solutions achieved a turnover of 11.5 billion euros, according to its own figures. In the previous year, turnover amounted to 11.4 billion euros.
Kion was able to increase EBIT from 791 million euros in 2023 to 917 million euros in 2024. The adjusted EBIT margin increased from 6.9 percent to 8.0 percent. The company is forecasting free cash flow of EUR 702 million for 2024.
Optimization of efficiency
The efficiency program is intended to take into account the changes in the macroeconomic environment. As Kion points out in its press release, the European economies are only developing modestly. This affects important customer industries in the Industrial Trucks & Services segment. According to Kion, Chinese competitors are currently expanding their market position in this segment.
According to its press release, Kion intends to achieve annual cost savings of around 140 to 160 million euros with the efficiency program. These savings should be fully effective by 2026.
Christian Harm, CFO of Kion Group AG, explains: "In order to maintain our scope for future-proof investments and strengthen our competitiveness and resilience, we need to optimize our cost base. This requires structural and sustainable measures."