Konecranes Plc's Annual General Meeting on March 26, 2015: President and CEO Pekka Lundmark comments on the first quarter and key strategic initiatives

In his presentation, Pekka Lundmark, President and CEO, summarizes the year 2014 and comments on the first quarter of 2015 as follows:

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“Market conditions in the beginning of 2015 have been fairly unchanged from the fourth quarter of 2014. In January-February, both business areas recorded growth in order intake compared to the previous year. Business Area Service is expected to continue on its steady path of year-on-year profitability improvement in the first quarter of 2015. However, we expect Business Area Equipment’s first quarter result to be weak due to seasonally low deliveries coupled with unfavorable product mix. Nevertheless, our full-year 2015 net sales and operating profit guidance remains intact.

Our Business Area Equipment management is actively working on the agenda announced in December that carries a new target to generate cost savings of EUR 30 million by the end of the first quarter in 2016. The key items of the agenda are restructuring non-performing units, optimization of supply chain and simplification of the operational model.

Our three strategic initiatives – Industrial Internet, Segment-based Offering and oneKONECRANES – passed important milestones in 2014. Investments in these areas will open up new business opportunities while improving the efficiency of our processes.”

The financial guidance issued on February 4, 2015 is reiterated:

Based on the order book, service contract base and the near-term demand outlook, the year 2015 sales are expected to be higher than in 2014. We expect the 2015 operating profit, excluding restructuring costs, to improve from 2014.