Kion Group Ag Unsp/Adr (KIGRY) Q4 2024 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to our update call and webcast on the fourth quarter in full year results in 2024. You can find our update call presentation on the IR website. I'm going to start with a summary on our full year 2024 results, and I'll give you a strategic update and a few words on our exciting teamwork and collaboration with NVIDIA and Accenture. Then Christian's going to take you through the detailed Q4 financials as well as our outlook for 2025. I'll be back with the key takeaways and we'll open the line for your questions and look forward to that. So starting on page three together, group order intake was 10.3 billion euros, representing a 5% decline compared to the prior year. and reflects the subdued markets in both operating segments during 2024. Revenue was a record at 11.5 billion euros. Adjusted EBIT increased 16% to the record level of 917 million euros, with the adjusted EBIT margin improving 110 basis points to be 8% in the full year 2024. The improvement was driven by improvements in both operating segments. Free cash flow was 702 million euros, slightly below last year, but exceeded our capital market expectations. The improvement was driven by the strong EBIT and the substantial improvements we made in net working capital. Earnings per share were 2 euros and 75 cents, an increase of 18%. In line with the increased earnings per share, We will be proposing at the AGM on 27 May a $0.82 dividend, leaving the payout ratio unchanged at approximately 30%. We have made very good progress in both our operating segments and on the Keon level since the difficult year of 2022, which you'll recall was impacted by high inflation and severe supply chain disruptions. Our operational and commercial agility measures and our strategic foc...