FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Demand for Kion's forklift trucks declined at the beginning of the year. The Frankfurt-based company also felt the effects of macroeconomic uncertainties on the supply of automated warehouse technology. Overall, incoming orders stagnated at a good 2.4 billion euros, virtually at the previous year's level, as the company announced in Frankfurt on Thursday. This fell short of expectations, while turnover and profit were slightly higher than experts at analyst firms and investment banks had previously expected. The management confirmed its forecast for the year. The share price slipped.

In the morning, the MDax-listed share was down 4.5 percent. The gain since the beginning of the year has been reduced to 17 percent. Overall, the forklift truck manufacturer's performance was mixed, summarized Lucas Ferhani from the analyst firm Jefferies. Baader expert Peter Rothenaicher tried to reassure investors: Incoming orders were weak, but profitability in the forklift truck business was strong, he wrote in an initial commentary. The unchanged annual targets appeared easily achievable.

In 2024, Kion aims to achieve sales of between 11.2 and 12 billion euros, after 11.4 billion euros in 2023. The operating result (ber EBIT) is expected to be between 790 and 940 million euros and thus remain at the previous year's level in the worst case.

In the first three months, turnover rose slightly to 2.86 billion euros, with the forklift truck business growing and the automation business declining. Adjusted for special effects, earnings before interest and taxes (ber EBIT) improved by over 45 percent to almost 227 million euros. The bottom line for shareholders was a profit of almost 109 million euros, compared to a good 72 million euros in the previous year.

In the automation systems business, which has been problematic for some time, there was another low blow: the Frankfurt-based company had to adjust its order book by around 92 million euros because major orders from the previous year could not be realized as planned.

Incoming orders in this segment improved at the start of the year, albeit on the basis of a very weak comparison with the previous year. Kion reported that demand from pure e-commerce providers and the general goods and food retail trade was picking up. However, project awards in the first three months were still subdued overall due to macroeconomic uncertainties.

Kion also felt the effects of the economic weakness in the forklift truck business: In the key sales regions of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, order figures were only at the previous year's level. There was even a decline in America, while orders in Asia increased. However, there was less demand for large industrial trucks than for smaller ones. According to reports, Kion has lost market share here to the competition, which primarily includes Jungheinrich from Hamburg and the Japanese engineering company Toyota Industries./lew/ngu/jha/