DGAP-News: New structure for the KION Group: even stronger

DGAP-News: KION GROUP AG / Key word(s): Miscellaneous New structure for the KION Group: even stronger focus on customers, regions and brand synergies (news with additional features) 26.11.2015 / 13:05 The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Group functions plus four regional operating units in future - KION CEO Gordon Riske: "We are stepping up collaboration across all brands and regions and making it more efficient" - Andreas Krinninger to become President Linde Material Handling EMEA; future President of STILL EMEA to be announced shortly - New organisation to start taking shape in 2016 as part of the Strategy 2020 Wiesbaden, 26 November 2015 - The KION Group is sharpening its focus on the specific customer and market requirements of the key regions of the world and on cross-brand synergies with a comprehensive reorganisation of the group structure. In future, the Wiesbaden, Germany-based Group will be organised into group functions, such as Research and Development, Procurement, Quality Management, Finance, HR and IT, plus four operating units: Linde Material Handling EMEA and STILL EMEA, which will each concentrate on Europe, the Middle East and Africa, plus KION APAC and KION Americas, which will hold cross-brand responsibility for the Asia-Pacific region and the Americas respectively. The KION Group, one of the world's two leading suppliers of forklift trucks, warehouse technology and related services, will start to put the new structures in place at the beginning of 2016 as part of its Strategy 2020. In the new organisation, the operating units will oversee marketing, sales and service as well as production in their regions and will have individual P&L responsibility. They will be supported by the group administrative functions and the KION Research and Development, Procurement, Quality and Production Processes technical functions, which have been centrally managed under Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Eike Böhm since August 2015. On the KION Group Executive Board, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Gordon Riske will have responsibility for the Linde Material Handling EMEA, STILL EMEA and KION Americas units, while Chief Asia-Pacific Officer (C-APAC-O) Ching Pong Quek will be responsible for the KION APAC unit. Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Labour Relations Director Thomas Toepfer will continue to be in charge of Accounting, Control and Finance, Legal, IT and HR. "The new organisational structure will enable us to focus even better on the specific requirements of our customers around the world and to harness cross-brand potential," said KION CEO Gordon Riske. "We will continue to step up our collaboration across all brands and regions and make this collaboration more efficient, which will benefit our customers, our partners and, of course, our employees. We are confident that by taking these steps we will be in a better position to achieve the objectives of our Strategy 2020 and will secure our long-term success." The new Group Executive Committee (GEC), which advises the KION Executive Board and integrates input from the operating units, will have a central role. The committee is appointed by the KION Group Executive Board and consists of the KION Executive Board and the Presidents of the operating units. Andreas Krinninger, who is currently CFO of Linde Material Handling, will be President of the Linde Material Handling EMEA operating unit from 1 January 2016. The corresponding role of President of the STILL EMEA operating unit will be filled by an external appointment who will be joining the KION Group during 2016. Furthermore, Mr. Krinninger and the future President of STILL EMEA are taking over as managing directors of the brand companies from KION CEO Gordon Riske, who has been in charge of them since January on an interim basis. Website: kiongroup.com/mediasite Twitter: @kion_group The Company The KION Group - comprising the seven brands of Linde, STILL, Fenwick, OM STILL, Baoli, Voltas and Egemin Automation - 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 leading provider of industrial trucks in India. Egemin Automation is a leading Belgian logistics automation specialist. The KION Group is present in more than 100 countries and, in 2014, employed almost 23,000 people and generated revenue of around EUR4.7 billion. KION GROUP AG is listed on Deutsche Börse's Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the MDAX (the German stock index for medium-sized companies) and the STOXX Europe 600 index, which comprises the 600 largest companies in Europe. 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 Dr Karoline Jung-Senssfelder Head of Investor Relations and M&A Tel.: +49 (0)611 770 450 karoline.jung-senssfelder@kiongroup.com +++++ Additional features: Document: http://n.equitystory.com/c/fncls.ssp?u=ERSTSGPRFA Document title: Download press release as PDF --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 26.11.2015 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. The DGAP 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: MDAX Listed: Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, Stuttgart End of News DGAP News Service --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 417275 26.11.2015