Krones Q1 Report 2024

Krones can look back on a successful first quarter 2024. Our markets are largely unaffected by economic fluctuations and customers continue to be very keen to invest. At €1.48 billion, order intake from January to March almost matched the exceptionally high level of the previous year (€1.51 billion) and was well above that of the fourth quarter of 2023 (€1.26 billion). Revenue climbed 4.0% to €1.25 billion. Krones also further improved profitability in the first quarter of 2024. The EBITDA margin rose from 9.6% in the previous year to 10.1%. Overall, after the first three months, we confirm our forecasts for the full year 2024.

Highlights

• At €1,482.7 million, the contract value of orders in the first quarter of 2024 was close to the very high level seen in the previous year (€1,513.1 million) and, with an increase of 17.4%, significantly higher than the order intake in the fourth quarter of 2023 (€1,263.0 million).
• Krones’ growth is fully on track. Revenue increased by 4.0% to €1,247.1 million. Krones has consolidated the revenue of the recently acquired Netstal Maschinen AG only since 28 March 2024.
• The EBITDA margin improved from 9.6% in the previous year to 10.1%, which is within the guidance range for the full year 2024.
• Krones significantly increased free cash flow before M&A activities to +€184.2 million in the first quarter of 2024 (previous year: -€21.0 million).
• Following the very positive first-quarter trend, Krones has confirmed the guidance for 2024. For the full year, the company expects reve- nue growth of 9 to 13%, an EBITDA margin of 9.8 to 10.3% and ROCE of 17 to 19%.