DGAP-News: KION Group Annual General Meeting: Strategy 2020

DGAP-News: KION GROUP AG / Key word(s): AGM/EGM KION Group Annual General Meeting: Strategy 2020 implementation gets under way (news with additional features) 19.05.2014 / 14:47 --------------------------------------------------------------------- KION Group Annual General Meeting: Strategy 2020 implementation gets under way Proposals from Supervisory Board and Executive Board approved with large majority at first Annual General Meeting Dividend set at EUR0.35 Strategy 2020: Preparing plant structures for growth and expansion of research and development in Asia to start this year Wiesbaden, 19 May 2014 - The KION Group is forging ahead with implementing its Strategy 2020. It plans to begin expanding its global plant structures this year in order to meet the expected increase in volume, as the KION Group's Chief Executive Officer Gordon Riske explained at the company's first Annual General Meeting, which was held today in Wiesbaden. "Our key objective in this process is to locate our production even closer to the fast-growing sales markets." Specific investments are aimed at increasing efficiency in the core plants. At the same time, the company is starting the development of trucks for markets such as the United States on the basis of existing product platforms. The KION Group, the world's largest specialist supplier of industrial trucks and associated services, also intends to further expand its research and development (R&D) activities in Asia, where around a third of all R&D employees in the KION Group are now based. Nearly a year on from the IPO, the first Annual General Meeting voted by a large majority in favour of the Supervisory Board's and Executive Board's proposals, including a dividend of EUR0.35 per share. Other items on the agenda were the approval of the Executive Board remuneration system and the formal approval of the actions of the members of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board. Shareholders also voted in favour of creating authorised and conditional capital equating in total to 10 per cent of the share capital - with the option of excluding pre-emptive rights in each case - in order to be able to issue shares and equity linked bonds. The almost 130 shareholders in attendance at Wiesbaden's Rhein-Main-Hallen represented approximately 90.2 per cent of the voting share capital. Optimistic outlook for 2014 CEO Gordon Riske expressed his confidence about the current year. "For 2014, we see continued momentum for the stabilisation of demand for industrial trucks in western Europe and for further growth in North America and Asia," he said. "We want to generate profitable growth in 2014 and permanently improve our market position worldwide." He added that the KION Group had delivered an excellent performance in 2013 and previous years and that this success was the starting point for the Strategy 2020. Based on this strategy, the KION Group intends to harness its global potential even more effectively, focusing on growth, profitability, resilience and the efficient use of capital in order to become the industry leader worldwide. Other objectives of the KION Group within its Strategy 2020 are an EBIT margin in double digits and a significantly higher return on capital employed. The KION Group attaches particular importance to the fast-growing Asian and North American markets. It plans to optimise the competitiveness of the global brands Linde, STILL and Baoli and the regional brands Fenwick, OM STILL and Voltas by stepping up the use of shared modules and platforms. The company The KION Group - comprising the six brands of Linde, STILL, Fenwick, OM STILL, Baoli and Voltas - is the largest manufacturer of industrial trucks in western and eastern Europe, the global number two in the industry and the leading non-domestic supplier in China. The Linde and STILL brands serve the premium segment worldwide. Fenwick is the largest supplier of material handling products in France, while OM STILL is a market leader in Italy. The Baoli brand focuses on the economy segment, and Voltas is a market leader in India in industrial trucks. The KION Group is present in more than 100 countries and, in 2013, employed over 22,000 people and generated revenue of EUR4.49 billion. Disclaimer This document and the information contained herein are for information purposes only and do not constitute a prospectus or an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in the United States or in any other jurisdiction. This release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Future results could differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements due to certain factors, e.g. 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 do not undertake any responsibility to update the forward-looking statements in this release. Further information for the media Michael Hauger Head of Corporate Communications Tel.: +49 (0)611 770 655 michael.hauger@kiongroup.com Frank Brandmaier Head of Corporate Media Relations Tel.: +49 (0)611 770 752 frank.brandmaier@kiongroup.com Further information for investors Frank Herzog Head of Corporate Finance Tel.: +49 (0)611 770 303 frank.herzog@kiongroup.com Silke Glitza Head of Investor Relations and M&A Tel.: +49 (0)611 770 450 silke.glitza@kiongroup.com End of Corporate News +++++ Additional features: Document: http://n.equitystory.com/c/fncls.ssp?u=YYOCHJCXBR Document title: Press release AGM --------------------------------------------------------------------- 19.05.2014 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. DGAP's Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de --------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Company: KION GROUP AG Abraham-Lincoln-Str. 21 65189 Wiesbaden Germany Phone: +49 (0)611 770-0 Fax: +49 (0)611 770-690 E-mail: info@kiongroup.com Internet: www.kiongroup.com ISIN: DE000KGX8881 WKN: KGX888 Indices: SDAX Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, München, Stuttgart End of News DGAP News-Service --------------------------------------------------------------------- 269297 19.05.2014