KION Raises Adjusted Earnings 6.5% to €202.9 Million in Third Quarter
Key Facts
KION Group reported revenue of €2.835 billion in the third quarter of 2026, up 4.8% from the same period a year earlier, while adjusted operating profit rose to €202.9 million, a gain of 6.5%, according to a company statement published on October 29. Both measures grew year on year, although the Industrial Trucks & Services segment diverged from the group’s profitability trend. KION announced on October 14 that it was lowering its financial outlook for the year, ahead of the third-quarter results. The company said the main reason for the revision was that truck orders in the quarter did not meet expectations. This reflects a gap between overall earnings growth and the pressure faced by one of the group’s two segments.
In the Industrial Trucks & Services segment, revenue rose 0.6% to €1.955 billion, but adjusted operating profit fell 4.4% to €163.1 million. Segment orders declined 1.4% to €1.915 billion compared with the third quarter of 2025. KION said the segment failed to keep pace with growth in the materials-handling market, particularly in the low-priced economy truck category. The company cited weak order growth and changes in the regional and product mix among the factors weighing on performance. Thus, segment revenue increased in the quarter, while adjusted profit and orders fell year on year.
In the first nine months of 2026, truck orders totaled €5.897 billion, compared with €5.970 billion in the same period of 2025. The company attributed the decline to an unfavorable change in the regional mix, with a larger share of business in Asia-Pacific. It also said the product mix shifted further toward entry-level warehouse trucks. These factors provide context for quarterly order performance, as the company said the segment failed to keep pace with growth in the materials-handling market. In the second quarter, revenue at the Supply Chain Solutions segment rose 23.3% to €861 million, despite a 39.6% drop in orders to €873 million compared with an exceptional second quarter in 2025.
KION lowered its 2026 revenue outlook to €11.45–11.75 billion, from a previous range of €11.525–12.025 billion. It also cut its adjusted operating profit outlook to €815–875 million, compared with €880–980 million in the previous forecast. The revision also covered free cash flow, with the expected range now €400–500 million instead of €420–540 million. The company pushed back its target of reaching a double-digit adjusted operating profit margin to after 2027. The changes were announced on October 14, and the company attributed most of them to third-quarter truck orders that came in below expectations.
KION published its report for the period ended September 30 and held its analysts’ call on October 29, 2026, according to its financial calendar. The calendar sets March 4, 2027, for publication of the 2026 annual report, the budget conference and the analysts’ call. The company’s next financial milestone will therefore come after year-end, while its revised 2026 outlook remains the range announced in October. That outlook combines lower revenue, adjusted operating profit and free cash flow forecasts. It also includes a delay in reaching the double-digit margin target to after 2027.