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KION: Weak order intake weighs on stocks
Current development of the KION share: Despite a good start to 2024, the KION share is collapsing. Learn more about the challenges and prospects of the forklift manufacturer. #KION #share #start of the year
KION: Weak order intake weighs on stocks
The KION Group got off to a solid start to the year, although demand for forklifts fell at the beginning of the year. CFO Christian Harm expressed confidence in the important demand from online retail customers and emphasized that e-commerce is on the rise again. Despite these positive statements, investors on the stock market reacted with concern to the current figures and caused the KION share price to fall.
Analysts such as Lucas Ferhani from Jefferies and Peter Rothenaicher from Baader Research gave a differentiated assessment of the forklift manufacturer's performance. While Ferhani described the overall development as mixed, Rothenaicher praised the strength of profitability in the forklift truck business. The KION Group's unchanged annual targets were assessed as achievable, as the company continues to aim for sales of between 11.2 and 12 billion euros.
In the first quarter, the KION Group recorded stagnating order intake and a slight increase in sales to 2.86 billion euros. The forklift truck business benefited from strong incoming orders in the previous quarters, while the automation business declined. The weak demand from the second half of 2022 in particular had an impact here.
The KION Group's financial reports showed adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of almost 227 million euros, an increase of over 45 percent compared to the previous year. Despite these positive figures, the company suffered a setback in the automation systems sector as orders from the previous year could not be implemented as planned. The challenges in this segment should be largely solved by 2025, according to CFO Harm.
The KION Group's outlook for the current year remains confirmed despite the current challenges. The expectations of an economic recovery in the second half of 2024 and the goal of achieving a double-digit operating margin in the automation business by 2027 signal the company's long-term commitment in this area.