The Jungheinrich Group continued its course for consolidation with success in the first four months of 2010. Bolstered by the growth of the world economy, the material handling equipment industry posted substantial gains over the small market volume observed in the same period last year. Jungheinrich benefited from this tangible market recovery and demonstrated moderate optimism concerning its future business trend at the Annual General Meeting on June 15, 2010.

The value of incoming orders, encompassing all business areas, was up 8 per cent to 588 million euros by the end of April 2010 (prior year: 542 million euros). Net sales declined by a marginal 2 per cent to 532 million euros in the same period (prior year: 545 million euros). This drop in sales was primarily caused by new truck business, which recorded a decrease of 8 per cent. This decline is due to the fact that the level of orders on hand carried over from 2008, which was still high, was processed in the first quarter of 2009. Posting a combined gain of 1 per cent, short-term hire and used equipment activities proved stable in the first four months of 2010, with sales achieved by after-sales services in fact growing by 4 per cent. Orders on hand in new truck business amounted to 262 million euros as of April 30, 2010—up 12 per cent on the year-earlier figure (prior year: 234 million euros). Orders on hand increased by 26 per cent, or 54 million euros, compared to the 208 million euros at the end of 2009.

At the Annual General Meeting on June 15, 2010, the shareholders were presented with a draft proposal to renounce the dividend on ordinary shares and to reduce the dividend per preferred share to the minimum dividend of 12 euro cents according to the articles of association. The Board of Management and the Supervisory Board are thus doing justice to the earnings trend experienced in 2009.

The world economy continued to recover in the first four months of 2010, displaying various degrees of dynamism by region. The material handling equipment sector benefited from the improved framework conditions, allowing global demand for material handling equipment to grow by 50 per cent to 245.1 thousand units (prior year: 163.8 thousand units). Asia posted the steepest rise: a gain of 87 per cent. China made a disproportionately large contribution, experiencing an increase of 117 per cent. Europe's market volume grew by 19 per cent. Whereas Western Europe only recorded a rise of about 11 per cent, demand in Eastern Europe advanced by 74 per cent. However, account must be taken of the fact that the latter region's market shrank by 77 per cent last year. The North American market achieved an increase of 30 per cent.

Despite the difficult times faced by several Eurozone economies, Jungheinrich estimates envisage a continuation of the worldwide economic recovery. Given the rise in demand in the material handling equipment sector already witnessed at the beginning of the year, the global market for material handling equipment is likely to expand by between 15 and 25 per cent to between 630 and 680 thousand trucks. "In view of the resurgence in demand seen since the beginning of the year, we expect 2010 incoming orders to rise to over 1.7 billion euros and consolidated net sales to increase to more than 1.7 billion euros as well. Building on this and taking account of further consolidation steps, we should generate operative earnings in low to mid-range double-digit million euro territory. Our company's business trend will be marked by consolidation, growth and earnings improvements as the year progresses," declared 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 is a service provider with manufacturing operations as well as an intralogistics solution provider, which offers its customers a comprehensive range of forklift trucks, shelving systems, services and consulting. Jungheinrich shares are traded on all German stock exchanges.