Strong growth in incoming orders and net sales / earnings further improved / two billion euro net sales mark in reach for 2007

Hamburg—The Jungheinrich Group continued its profitable course for growth in the second quarter of 2007. Incoming orders and net sales increased significantly towards the middle of the year, with earnings posting further growth as well. The company expects to lift consolidated net sales to some 2.0 billion euros if it succeeds in maintaining this pace of growth.

Global demand for material handling equipment recorded a rate of increase of nearly 13 per cent in the second quarter of 2007. Europe made an above-average contribution, accounting for 22 per cent. Eastern Europe posted a gain of 51 per cent, continuing to outpace Western Europe, which advanced by 18 per cent. The Asian market recorded a rise of 15 per cent. China was again the growth engine in Asia, recording a 24 per cent increase. In contrast, the North American market experienced a 15 per cent decline. However, the downward trend slowed in the second quarter.

Orders on hand from Jungheinrich’s new truck business continued to rise, totalling 340 million euros as of June 30—up 25 per cent on the 271 million euros achieved in the corresponding period last year. Since the beginning of the year, the value of orders on hand has increased by 29 per cent. The order range was extended to nearly four months.

In the second quarter, Jungheinrich boosted net sales, lifting them by about 19 per cent to 499 million euros (prior year: 421 million euros). Net sales were up 19 per cent in the first half of the year as well, advancing to 955 million euros (prior year: 800 million euros). New truck business accounted for the single-largest increase, climbing 28 per cent, followed by the short-term hire and used equipment business, which advanced 15 per cent. After-sales services benefited from the steady rise in market penetration, gaining 8 per cent. In the first half of the year, the foreign ratio rose to 74 per cent (prior year: 73 per cent).

Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) advanced by 32 per cent to 36.0 million euros in the second quarter (prior year: 27.2 million euros). Jungheinrich’s return on sales (ROS) improved to 7.2 per cent (prior year: 6.5 per cent). Negative effects felt from persistently high raw material prices and the competition-driven pressure on prices in new truck business were more than offset, thanks to the good level of incoming orders and the rise in production in the company’s plants. By the end of the first six months, operating income had risen to 62.2 million euros (prior year: 50.4 million euros), with the return on sales amounting to 6.5 per cent at the mid-year mark (prior year: 6.3 per cent).

In the second quarter, net income was up by a below-average 8 per cent to 21.6 million euros (prior year: 20.0 million euros), owing to the much lower tax ratio in the same period last year. The company closed the first half of the year with 35.3 million euros in net income (prior year: 33.1 million euros). Earnings per share rose to 1.04 euros (prior year: 0.97 euros) based on 34.0 million shares.

Jungheinrich expects demand for material handling equipment to remain high in the second half of 2007, although the pace of growth may drop marginally. “We aim to attract more than 2.0 billion euros in orders this year. We thus stand a chance of hitting the 2 billion euro mark in terms of net sales for the first time as well,” says Hans-Georg Frey, Chairman of the Board of Management.

Jungheinrich ranks among the world’s leading companies in the material handling equipment, warehousing and material flow engineering sectors. The company has become a logistics service provider with manufacturing operations, which offers its customers a comprehensive range of forklift trucks, shelving systems and services covering the entire field of intralogistics. Jungheinrich shares are traded on all German stock exchanges.