Efficiency program resolved to strengthen resilience
- Preliminary and unaudited group results for the financial year 2024 published – significant increase in profitability
- Executive Board resolves efficiency program to maintain headroom for future investments
The KION Group finished the financial year 2024 with strong results: With slightly improved revenue of € 11.5 billion (2023: € 11.4 billion), adjusted EBIT significantly increased to € 917 million (2023: € 791 million). The adjusted EBIT margin was at 8.0 percent (2023: 6.9 percent), free cash flow at € 702 million (2023: € 715 million). To secure this momentum and to maintain the company’s headroom for investments, the Executive Board of KION GROUP AG resolved an efficiency program. In a fast-changing macroeconomic and geopolitical environment, KION is committed to extending its leading role in the market.
“KION is at a pivotal moment in its history. Our preliminary results of the financial year 2024 prove that in a challenging environment, we can deliver a strong performance,” said Rob Smith, CEO of KION GROUP AG. “KION is a recognized leader in its markets, strongly valued across our customer base and by our partners. We are the first in the industry to work with NVIDIA’s physical AI, creating the warehouse of the future and reshaping our industry. To further drive our development of solutions in both segments to cover future requirements from our customers, we will develop an even more resilient and agile company.”
Structural measures to optimize KION’s efficiency
The efficiency program is addressing developments in the macroeconomic environment. European economies are struggling to gain momentum – this affects key customer industries in the Industrial Trucks & Services segment, where Chinese competitors have been improving their market position in the aftermath of the recent pandemics. While internal programs to continuously improve product, production, and service costs were already up and running throughout 2024 and will continue, further structural measures will address a more efficient setup for KION in Europe. This is expected to have an impact on personnel requirements subject to consultations with the respective employee representative bodies as required by local laws.
The efficiency program aims to achieve sustainable cost savings of around € 140 million to € 160 million per year, fully effective in the 2026 financial year. For the implementation of the cost-saving measures, one-off expenses for approximately € 240 million to € 260 million are expected in the financial year 2025. The vast majority is expected to be cash-effective in the financial year 2025 as well.
Christian Harm, CFO of KION GROUP AG, adds: “In order to maintain headroom for investments ensuring our future, to further strengthen our competitiveness and our resilience, we must manage our cost base. This requires structural and sustainable measures.”
The preliminary and unaudited results for the group and the segments for the FY 2024 and Q4 2024 are as follows:
| in € million | 2024 | 2023 | Diff. | Q4 2024 | Q4 2023 | Diff. |
| Revenue
Industrial Trucks & Services |
11,503 8,609 2,943 |
11,434 8,480 2,997 |
0.6% 1.5% -1.8% |
3,068 2,304 782 |
3,086 2,320 781 |
-0.6% -0.7% 0.2% |
| Adjusted EBIT Industrial Trucks & Services Supply Chain Solutions |
917 918 113 |
791 849 44 |
16.0% 8.1% >100% |
250 245 42 |
219 235 14 |
14.6% 4.1% >100% |
| Adjusted EBIT margin Industrial Trucks & Services Supply Chain Solutions |
8.0% 10.7% 3.8% |
6.9% 10.0% 1.5% |
8.2% 10.6% 5.4% |
7.1% 10.1% 1.7% |
||
| ROCE | 8.7% | 7.7% | ||||
| Free cash flow | 702 | 715 | -1.8% | 271 | 386 | -29.9% |
| Order Intake Industrial Trucks & Services Supply Chain Solutions |
10,321 7,766 2,579 |
10,850 7,890 3,007 |
-4.9% -1.6% -14.2% |
2,815 2,199 624 |
2,936 2,176 779 |
-4.1% 1.1% -19.8% |
KION GROUP AG will publish the final results for the fourth quarter and the financial year 2024 and the detailed outlook for the financial year 2025 as planned on 27 February 2025.
