Publication of inside information pursuant to Article 17 of Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014

- KION Group temporarily suspends its production at key production sites in Europe, North America, South America, and India

- KION GROUP AG retracts the outlook for the 2020 financial year

- The Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be postponed to a date yet to be determined

- Supervisory Board and Executive Board adjust the proposal for the appropriation of profit for the 2019 financial year and plan to propose a dividend of €0.04 per share

Frankfurt, March 26, 2020 - KION GROUP AG will in light of the coronavirus pandemic temporarily suspend its production at key production sites in Europe, North America, South America, and India, initially for an average of two weeks. During the shutdown period, the KION Group will also lay the foundations for lasting improvements in the availability of materials, which had recently come under pressure. The production activities of suppliers, especially in Italy and France, are currently either subject to far-reaching constraints or have been suspended completely. The goal is to build up greater buffers of parts supplies by the end of the Easter period, in order to ensure that production can be resumed in an organized and efficient manner once government restrictions are lifted. A variety of tried-and-tested personnel measures will be used in order to flexibly manage the temporary suspension of production and the subsequent ramp-up. For example, working hours credits accumulated by employees in recent years will be used up during this period and short-time working will be introduced where local conditions require it.

The industrial truck production plants in Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy, France, India, Brazil and possibly the USA are affected by the suspension of production. In China, the spread of coronavirus has already been contained effectively and all three industrial truck plants of the KION brand companies have almost returned to normal production schedules. Chinese suppliers have also largely returned to business as usual.

In the Supply Chain Solutions segment, our plants in Mexico, Belgium, Germany, the Czech Republic, China, and Australia are currently continuing to produce at a high level. In the US, two smaller production sites in Holland and Grand Rapids, Michigan, have been affected by government health protection measures. The plant in Salt Lake City is currently still operating. Production in Milan (Italy) has also been temporarily suspended in line with government restrictions. The project business continues to perform well as demand for e-commerce solutions keeps growing. However, cases of project delays caused by regional access restrictions for project engineers are increasing, especially in the US.

In light of uncertainty about the further course of the pandemic, its likely duration, and its impact on the economy in Europe and the US, the Executive Board of the KION GROUP AG today decided to retract the outlook for the 2020 financial year as published in the 2019 annual report. As expected, the situation in China is already clearly improving again, but the current situation in Europe and anticipated developments in the US make it impossible at this point in time to set out a sufficiently reliable outlook for the performance of the business over the further course of the year. The outlook will be updated later in the year.

KION GROUP AG is also postponing its Annual General Meeting (AGM), which had originally been scheduled for Tuesday, May 12, 2020, due to coronavirus. A new date has not been determined yet. A new date for the AGM will be announced as soon as possible. The Executive Board aims to hold the AGM within the time frame stipulated by law.

In addition, the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board of KION GROUP AG today made the decision to adjust the proposal for the appropriation of profit published in the 2019 annual report in light of the coronavirus pandemic and the current unpredictability of its likely impact. Based on the current situation, they will propose to the AGM to pay out the statutory minimum dividend of €0.04 per share and to add the remainder of the distributable profit to retained earnings. The Executive Board and the Supervisory Board will keep this proposal under constant review as they monitor the evolving situation and may update it again ahead of the AGM.

Disclaimer

This document and the information contained herein is for information purposes only and does not constitute a prospectus nor does it constitute an offer to sell securities in the United States or in any other jurisdiction or a solicitation of an offer to purchase securities in the United States or in any other jurisdiction.

This publication contains forward-looking statements that are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Future results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to various risk factors and uncertainties, including changes in business, economic and competitive conditions, regulatory reforms, results of technical studies, foreign exchange rate fluctuations, uncertainties in litigation or investigative proceedings, and the availability of financing. We assume no responsibility whatsoever to update the forward-looking statements contained in this publication.
 

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