There were plenty of positives for the Jungheinrich Group in its first quarter financial report.

In the first quarter of 2015, consolidated net sales rose 8% or EUR45 million (USD50.38 million) to EUR620 million (USD694 million).

In Germany, the single-most important market, net sales grew by 3% to EUR153 million (USD171 million), while net sales outside Europe climbed 9%.

During the quarter, Jungheinrich drove up EBIT by 5% to EUR42.3 million (USD47.3. million).

The results also reflect an 11% rise in the value of incoming orders which jumped in unit terms by 20%  to 24,500 thousand trucks.

Jungheinrich reports that global demand for materials handling equipment advanced by 4% in the first quarter to 282,400 forklifts (up from 272,300 in the same period last year).

Europe, Jungheinrich's main sales market, recorded an increase of 13%, with Western Europe climbing by 17% as Eastern Europe fell 11% due to the weakness of the Russian market. In Asia, market volume dropped by 5%, whereas demand in North America rose by 9%.

Looking forward, Jungheinrich expects the world economy to improve, with a corresponding expansion of the global materials handling equipment market.

"At present, Europe's market — with Western Europe as the growth driver — is also expected to develop positively. Jungheinrich anticipates that the Eastern European market will shrink, with prospects of stable development if the Russian market recovers considerably over the course of the year," according to the company’s financial report.

Jungheinrich continues to count on growth in the Asian market. "However, the prerequisite for this is that demand for IC engine-powered counterbalance trucks recovers as the year progresses," says the report.

The North American market is also expected to continue to expand.

Jungheinrich ranks among the world’s leading companies in the materials handling equipment, warehousing and material flow engineering sectors. The company further increased its labour force last quarter, particularly in the European sales organisation. As of March 31, a total of 12,740 people were employed throughout the Group — 191 more than at the end of 2014.