Earnings

EBIT and adjusted EBIT

The KION Group’s earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of €325.0 million in the reporting period (Q1–Q3 2024: €565.9 million) reflected a significant adverse impact from expenses incurred in connection with the efficiency program that was launched at the start of February 2025. In the first nine months of 2025, expenses of €160.8 million from ongoing implementation of the program were recognized as non-recurring items. This meant that a portion of the provisions that had been recognized in the year to date were able to be reversed in the third quarter of 2025.

Implementation of the efficiency program had a noticeable negative effect on the cost of sales and other functional costs. Against this backdrop, gross profit diminished to €2,185.8 million (Q1–Q3 2024: €2,272.8 million). Furthermore, the Group’s overall profitability was squeezed by the year-on-year reduction in revenue in the Industrial Trucks & Services segment and by the lower gross margin on new business.

The sharp rise in selling expenses and general administrative expenses (up by 10.6 percent) and in research and development costs (up by 9.9 percent) compared with the first three quarters of 2024 was mainly due to non-recurring items in connection with the efficiency program. In addition, generally higher personnel expenses drove the year-on-year increase in functional costs.

The ‘Other’ item, amounting to income of €22.2 million (Q1–Q3 2024: expense of €3.2 million), related primarily to other income and expenses in the income statement, within which income and expense resulting from currency translation had a notably more positive impact than in the prior-year period. The ‘Other’ item also included the share of profit (loss) of equity-accounted investments, which amounted to a profit of €9.2 million (Q1–Q3 2024: profit of €13.2 million).

In total, non-recurring items amounting to an expense of €185.2 million (Q1–Q3 2024: expense of €12.3 million) and effects from purchase price allocations amounting to an expense of €65.2 million (Q1–Q3 2024: expense of €88.5 million) were recognized in the consolidated income statement. Besides the expenses under the efficiency program (€160.8 million), the non-recurring items in the reporting period consisted chiefly of impairment losses on capitalized development costs. The higher purchase price allocation effects recognized in the prior-year period had included additional expenses in connection with the impairment recognized on the goodwill of the KION ITS Americas Operating Unit in an amount of €22.3 million.

The KION Group’s EBIT adjusted for non-recurring items and purchase price allocation effects (adjusted EBIT) amounted to €575.4 million in the first nine months of 2025 (Q1–Q3 2024: €666.7 million). This decrease was largely due to the volume- and margin-related drop in gross profit in the Industrial Trucks & Services segment. The KION Group’s adjusted EBIT margin narrowed to 7.0 percent (Q1–Q3 2024: 7.9 percent).

Net financial expenses

Net financial expenses, representing the balance of financial income and financial expenses, improved to €111.0 million in the first nine months of 2025 (Q1–Q3 2024: €147.6 million). Within this figure, interest expense on financial debt declined to €42.8 million (Q1–Q3 2024: €46.5 million). Net interest expense from the lease and short-term rental business also improved significantly to €33.7 million (Q1–Q3 2024: €67.8 million), while net interest income of €6.3 million was realized on the interest-rate derivatives used for hedging purposes in the lease business (Q1–Q3 2024: €33.6 million). Changes in the fair values of interest-rate derivatives and adjustments to the valuation of lease receivables designated as part of a fair value hedge made a negative contribution of €2.1 million to net financial expenses (Q1–Q3 2024: negative contribution of €11.0 million). Net financial expenses also included income and expenses resulting from currency translation, which amounted to a net expense of €2.0 million (Q1–Q3 2024: net expense of €14.6 million).

Income taxes

The Group’s income tax expenses declined sharply to €46.8 million in the first nine months of 2025 (Q1–Q3 2024: €162.7 million). In addition to the lower earnings before tax, this was due in particular to the deferred tax income that was recognized in the third quarter (€38.1 million on a net basis) as a result of the annual reduction in the German corporate income tax rate from 2028. The KION Group’s effective tax rate fell to 21.9 percent (Q1–Q3 2024: 38.9 percent).

Net income for the period

Net income for the first nine months of 2025 amounted to €167.1 million and was thus substantially lower than in the corresponding prior-year period (Q1–Q3 2024: €255.6 million) due to the adverse impact of high non-recurring items in the reporting period. Basic earnings per share attributable to the shareholders of KION GROUP AG declined accordingly to €1.23 (Q1–Q3 2024: €1.90) based on a weighted average of 131.1 million no-par-value shares (Q1–Q3 2024: 131.1 million).

ROCE

Return on capital employed (ROCE), which is the ratio of adjusted EBIT to capital employed, was down year on year at 8.0 percent at the end of the reporting period (September 30, 2024: 8.5 percent) as a result of the decline in earnings.