Business performance in the Group

Overall, the KION Group delivered a solid business performance in the first half of 2025, a period in which escalating geopolitical conflicts and trade disputes took their toll on macroeconomic conditions. However, the resulting rise in risks for the KION Group’s value chain and sales markets had no noticeable impact on the Group’s financial performance during the period under review. This is because the KION Group invested early on in making its structures adaptable and flexible by continually expanding its global capacity in production, research and development, sales, and procurement, especially in the APAC and Americas regions. In doing so, the aim was to ensure that the KION Group would be able to remain fully competitive even in difficult geopolitical conditions such as these.

With a lower level of orders on hand in the order book at the beginning of the year, revenue declined year on year in both operating segments, as had been anticipated. Moreover, the declining revenue, combined with the fall in the gross margin on new business in the Industrial Trucks & Services segment, meant that the Group was unable to maintain its profitability (measured by adjusted EBIT and the adjusted EBIT margin) at the same level as in the prior-year period. By contrast, order intake rose sharply in the first half of 2025, above all because order intake in the Supply Chain Solutions segment reached an all-time high in the second quarter. On the liquidity front, the KION Group’s free cash flow was again comfortably in positive territory in the first half of 2025.

The Executive Board of KION GROUP AG signed off an efficiency program on February 4, 2025 (‘efficiency program’) that is aimed at strengthening long-term competitiveness and capacity to carry out capital investment. Under the efficiency program, changes will be made to the organizational structures in the EMEA region for the affected non-production areas of the Industrial Trucks & Services segment and in Corporate Services. A large proportion (€196.7 million) of the total expected expenses of €240 million to €260 million from the ongoing implementation of the efficiency program was recognized as non-recurring items in the first half of 2025.

The reporting period also saw the successful completion of one of the most significant investment projects of recent years when the KION Regional Distribution Center Central Europe in Kahl am Main went into operation in May 2025. Capital expenditure on the project, most of which was carried out in previous years, came to around €90 million. This highly automated spare parts distribution center is designed to facilitate the even faster and more reliable supply of spare parts to customers in both operating segments in central Europe.