KONECRANES PLC STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE March 31, 2011 at 10 a.m.
The Annual General Meeting of Konecranes Plc is held today on Thursday March 31, 2011 starting at 10 am Finnish time in Hyvinkää, Finland. In his presentation, Pekka Lundmark, President and CEO, comments on the market situation, development spending and earnings seasonality:
Demand for Konecranes’ products and services has developed favorably in the beginning of 2011. Orders received for Service have continued to grow owing to the higher capacity utilization within customer industries. The improved demand for port cranes and heavy-duty cranes has boosted Equipment order intake compared to a year ago.
As communicated in our financial statements 2010 bulleting, we are increasing our technology and IT development spending in 2011 to improve our internal efficiency and to further improve our ability to enhance our customers’ productivity. This boosted development will add approximately EUR 20 million to our cost base in 2011 while the benefits will follow later. Coupled with the timing of deliveries, we expect clear earnings seasonality in 2011. As usual, the first quarter will be the weakest quarter of the year.
The financial guidance issued on February 3, 2011 is reiterated:
We forecast year 2011 sales and operating profit to be higher than in 2010.
The presentation material will also be available on the company website at www.konecranes.com after the closing of the AGM.
KONECRANES PLC
Miikka Kinnunen
Director, Investor Relations
FURTHER INFORMATION
Analysts and Investors:
Miikka Kinnunen, Director, Investor Relations, Konecranes Plc,
tel. +358 20 427 2050
Press:
Mikael Wegmüller, Vice President, Marketing and Communications, Konecranes Plc, tel. +358 20 427 2008
Konecranes is a world-leading group of Lifting Businesses™, serving a broad range of customers, including manufacturing and process industries, shipyards, ports and terminals. Konecranes provides productivity-enhancing lifting solutions as well as services for lifting equipment and machine tools of all makes. In 2010, Group sales totaled EUR 1,546 million. The Group has 10,000 employees at 578 locations in 46 countries. Konecranes is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki (symbol: KCR1V).
DISTRIBUTION
NASDAQ OMX Helsinki
Major media
www.konecranes.com
