January–March 2025 in brief:
Guidance for 2025
Kalmar expects its comparable operating profit margin to be above 12 percent in 2025.
President & CEO Sami Niiranen:
The first quarter of 2025 started off well for Kalmar. We delivered a solid quarter with good profitability despite lower sales volumes. The order intake for the quarter was strong. We successfully continued the execution of our strategy and were able to communicate several achievements supporting us on our way towards sustainable and profitable growth.
Financial performance for the first quarter was solid. Our continued focus on commercial and operational excellence enabled us to deliver a resilient profitability of 12.0%, which is on a good level given the lower sales volume. The comparable operating profit amounted to EUR 48.0 million, and cash flow from operations before finance items and taxes was EUR 85.4 million. We have a healthy leverage ratio of 0.1x. We have progressed with the implementation of the driving excellence initiative and during the first quarter 2025, a run rate of approximately EUR 9 million of annualised gross efficiency improvements have been secured. Majority of the improvements secured so far originate from successful sourcing activities.
We saw some early signs of demand recovery in the beginning of the year particularly in the distribution end customer segment, which has been subdued for a very long time. However, the world today is different than a few months ago with an increased level of uncertainties related to recent tariff announcements, geopolitical tensions and the risk of a global macroeconomic downturn. It is too early to draw any conclusions on how all this will affect our industry, the demand environment and global trade in the short term, but we will monitor the situation closely and have made different scenarios and are ready to act swiftly, if needed.
In the first quarter, our orders received amounted to EUR 480 million. Equipment segment’s orders received increased by 31% year-on-year, which also indicated positive activity in the market. We also saw positive momentum in Services order intake, driven by significant contract and upgrade projects. Our order book amounted to EUR 1,041 million, which is a 9% growth year-on-year. Sales amounted to EUR 398 million, impacted by slower market activity and the dip in order book in 2024. Services sales remained more stable than Equipment sales, providing resilience both in terms of sales and profitability. Services share of sales reached 36% in the first quarter and the comparable operating profit margin was at a record-high level of 19.0%. Growing services remains one of our key strategic focus areas.
During the first quarter our focus on sustainable innovations was evident, and we announced that Kalmar has been granted EUR 20 million funding from Business Finland related to the launch of a five-year Move2Green R&D program. The goal of the Move2Green program led by Kalmar is to advance carbon neutrality in heavy material handling by developing the electric equipment portfolio and data-driven services. We also further expanded our electrical equipment offering by starting the sale of our third generation electric terminal tractor (OT2 EV) in North America. Additionally, we will expand our global delivery capability with the startup of electric empty container handler and heavy forklift truck production at our Shanghai facility, which is showing our ability to react in order to serve our customers globally.
All in all, as we navigate the increasingly complex business environment of 2025 and the uncertainty of tariffs, our strategy, global footprint, and strong underlying foundations provide us with continued confidence. Our focus will remain the same by staying close to our customers and delivering on our targets. We believe in our ability to deliver the best heavy material handling solutions for our customers globally. With an installed base of 68,000 machines globally and a strong presence in over 120 countries for sales and services, our extensive reach remains a significant asset. This robust foundation fuels our active acceleration of future service growth through innovative offerings and digital solutions.
Vision and strategy
Kalmar is a market leader in heavy material handling equipment with deep-rooted foundations in customer proximity, attractive market, experienced and talented people and strong financial profile.
Kalmar’s sales and service network covers over 120 countries, supporting its globally dispersed customer base and extensive installed base of 68,000 machines globally. The company operates mainly through direct sales and a strong global network of dealers. With an assembly-based manufacturing model with four factories and two innovation centers, Kalmar prioritizes building strong and enduring relationships with its material suppliers across the globe. Kalmar’s workforce comprises around 5,200 employees of which 1,400 are service engineers. The company believes that attracting and retaining top talent is essential to being the most valued business partner for its customers and the employer of choice for current and future employees. Kalmar is dedicated to responsible business practices and expects its suppliers and business partners to uphold the same high legal and ethical standards.
The industry is facing several megatrends, which are driving renewal across the whole scene. This generates opportunities for Kalmar to provide solutions and solve the challenges customers face. Some of the key opportunities that Kalmar is prepared to address are:
• Safety
• Productivity
• Decarbonisation and electrification
• Changing logistics landscape
• Labour shortage
• Intelligent operations.
To address these opportunities and to create added customer value Kalmar is focusing on three strategic areas:
• Investing in sustainable innovations in the area of decarbonised and electric equipment, digital solutions and automation
• Growing services and expanding our aftermarket footprint with a focus on harvesting on our vast installed base, improving capture rate, increasing the share of recurring business through service contracts and creating customer lifecycle value through an intelligent service offering
• Driving excellence by improving profitability and cash flow generation via sourcing optimisation and process improvement to fund further investments into R&D and organic growth, and distributing profits to shareholders.
Performance targets
Kalmar’s Board of Directors has set the following performance targets for 2028:
Financial targets
Capital structure and sustainability framework
Corporate information and basis for preparation
Kalmar Corporation was formed as a result of the partial demerger from Cargotec Corporation (“demerger”), which was completed on 30 June 2024. The trading in Kalmar Corporation shares on the main market of Nasdaq Helsinki commenced on 1 July 2024.
Financial information prior to the demerger is presented on a carve-out basis. The carve-out financial statements do not necessarily reflect what the financials would have been had Kalmar operated as an independent consolidated group and had it therefore presented stand-alone consolidated financial information. Further, the carve-out financial information may not be indicative of Kalmar’s future performance. The carve-out reporting principles are described in Note 2. Basis of preparation.
Periods prior to the demerger on 30 June 2024 are presented on a carve-out basis. Gearing, % and interest bearing net debt / EBITDA are presented only from 31 December 2024 onwards as the previous periods with carve-out information do not reflect the capital structure and financing of Kalmar Group. Eco portfolio orders received are presented starting from the first quarter of 2025.
Source: Kalmar
