Jungheinrich continued to grow in the first nine months of 2018. Revenue and incoming orders increased considerably year-on-year and point to another successful financial year. 

• Revenue +10 per cent, value of incoming orders +15 per cent and units +9 per cent against previous year
• Increased 2018 forecast: revenue €3.65 billion to €3.75 billion (previously: €3.6 billion to €3.7 billion), incoming orders €3.85 billion to €3.95 billion (previously: €3.75 billion to €3.85 billion)
• Orders on hand as of end of September: +51 per cent (compared to end of 2017)

Dr Volker Hues, CFO of Jungheinrich AG: “Despite geopolitical shifts, both the market and our business are seeing strong growth. We are benefiting in particular from our European core market and pleasing market demand in the logistics systems business. Incoming orders, revenue and EBIT have all grown year-on-year. The dramatic increases in the prices of raw materials, high collective agreements in Germany and supply difficulties with certain materials do however pose a challenge, and unfortunately have an affect on earnings. 

As a result of the overall positive trend, we are increasing our forecast for 2018. Incoming orders are set to bring in between €3.85 billion and €3.95 billion, and Group revenue will be in the range of €3.65 billion to €3.75 billion. The EBIT forecast of €270 million to €280 million remains.

The order books are full, and with six months’ worth of orders on hand we are confident about the fourth quarter and the upcoming year.”

Development January – September 2018

The global market volume for material handling equipment increased by 14 per cent year-on-year from January to September 2018. This corresponds to 139 thousand units. 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 21 per cent thanks to Poland. More than half 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 17 per cent or 78 thousand trucks, with over 40 per cent of this attributable each to Asia and Europe. Half of the 11 per cent increase in global market volumes of battery- powered counterbalanced trucks was driven by higher orders from Asia. Over 40 per cent of the global increase of 10 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 100.6 thousand trucks, up 9 per cent on the corresponding figure in the previous year (92.1 thousand units). This was due to very high demand in Europe, Jungheinrich’s core market. 

At €2,996 million (previous year: €2,596 million), the value of incoming orders, which includes all business fields – new truck business, short-term rental and used equipment and after-sales services – increased by 15 per cent year-on-year. This was significantly due to the increase in demand for logistics systems solutions.

Orders on hand for new truck business climbed to €1,043 million as of 30 September 2018, which is €334 million or 47 per cent higher than the previous-year figure (€709 million).  Compared with orders on hand of €692 million as of year-end 2017, it represents an increase of €351 million or 51 per cent. Orders therefore accounted for six months of production. A large amount of the orders on hand are attributable to the “Logistics Systems” division.

The 10 per cent increase in Group revenue against the previous year reflects the good order situation. Revenue in the new truck business consisted of €407 million (previous year: €403 million) from the “Logistics Systems” division. The previous year’s very high figure was among other factors due to two large orders. The “Mail Order” division expanded by more than 30 per cent and generated revenue of €79 million (previous year: €58 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. Despite this, EBIT still increased by 5 per cent to €193.3 million in the first nine months of the year (previous year: €183.8 million). The EBIT return on sales (EBIT ROS) was 7.2 per cent, compared with 7.5 per cent in the previous-year period. Earnings before taxes (EBT) rose to €175.8 million at the end of the first nine months (previous year: €173.2 million). EBT return on sales (EBT ROS) came to 6.5 per cent (previous year: 7.0 per cent).