KUKA completed the 2017 financial year with successful results, even exceeding the previous year’s figures by a con-siderable margin in some cases. The high global demand for robots and automation solutions resulted in a double-digit growth rate, particularly in sales revenues, and to a further increase in both orders received and order backlog.
"In 2017, we invested in further growth. We achieved record sales reve-nues of €3.5bn and finished the year with a net income of €88.2m, slightly higher than the previous year," says Dr. Till Reuter, CEO of KUKA AG. "In 2018, we are focusing on expanding our leadership in innovation and on the growth market of China," Reuter explains.
Record value for orders received
During the past financial year KUKA Group generated orders received worth €3,61bn, representing a significant increase of 5.6% on the previous year’s result (2016: €3.42bn). This means that KUKA has now exceeded the pre-vious year’s value and achieved a new record for the fourth time running.
Record sales revenues
KUKA Group’s sales revenues amounted to €3,47bn in 2017. This is equiva-lent to an 18.0% increase on the previous year (2016: €2.94bn).
The book-to-bill ratio, i.e. orders received in relation to sales revenues, was above 1 at Group level in the 2017 financial year, coming in at 1.04 and thus indicating good capacity utilisation.
KUKA Group’s order backlog amounted to €2.15bn at year-end 2017. This was an increase of 5.3% compared to the prior-year value (2016: €2.04bn) and indicates further growth in 2018.
Before depreciation for purchase price allocations and before growth investment, KUKA Group generated earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of €148.3m (2016: €138.0m). This corresponds to an EBIT margin of 4.3% (2016: 4.7%). Individual projects in the Systems division and measures for increasing profitability at KUKA Systems produced an impact on earnings in the mid-double-digit million euro range. Measures for enhancing profitability and also the cost structure are currently being implemented.
