CEO Peter Mohnen commented on the coronavirus pandemic in advance. "We had actually prepared for a different scenario today. But the pandemic has hit us and affected us," said the CEO. He praised the solidarity of his employees and called for recognition for people in medical and care professions worldwide. For Kuka, it is now important to master the new challenges and "be prepared for the time after corona".

The fact that Kuka was able to stabilize in the past financial year and significantly improve its earnings is helping here. "2019 was a year of upheaval. Economic challenges and the technological shift towards new drive systems in the automotive sector made our customers more reluctant to invest," said Peter Mohnen. "At Kuka, we reacted early to the changed conditions: With the right measures, we have achieved a better result despite lower sales revenues. We have improved our free cash flow by more than 200 million euros compared to 2018. We are in positive territory here for the first time since 2015. Despite difficult times, we are back on track. However, there are completely new obstacles to overcome with Corona."

Growing focus markets such as e-commerce/retail and consumer goods had a positive impact on the intralogistics division of Kuka subsidiary Swisslog in 2019. Nevertheless, the economic environment remained tense, particularly in the automotive and electronics sectors and in the Europe and China regions. As a result, the order intake and sales of the Augsburg-based automation specialist fell compared to the previous year.

Kuka expects the market environment to remain difficult in 2020, exacerbated by the coronavirus crisis. "The pandemic is presenting our society and the economy with completely new challenges. We are also feeling this at Kuka, all around the world," said Peter Mohnen. "But I am proud to see how our employees are sticking together in these difficult times. We are working together to overcome this crisis and are in a stable position to do so."

The CEO emphasized that instead of discussing the market situation, it is important to set the right levers for the future, especially in these times: Over the next three years, Kuka plans to invest around 500 million euros in research and development to drive innovation. Each business unit is actively focusing its innovations on growth areas. The aim is to expand the business into new markets, software and digital services. At the same time, the manufacturer is focusing on the topic of sustainability and is working on improving its portfolio to conserve resources even more effectively and reduce energy consumption in its own and customers' plants.

Financial results 2019
In the reporting year, the Kuka Group recorded a decline in order intake of 3.5% to 3,190.7 million euros. Sales revenue fell slightly by 1.5% to 3,192.6 million euros. The book-to-bill ratio amounted to 1.00 in the 2019 financial year and thus fell slightly compared to the previous year (2018: 1.02). Values above 1.00 mean good capacity utilization and indicate growth.

Despite the difficult market environment, EBIT increased from 34.3 million euros in 2018 to 47.8 million euros in the current financial year. Kuka responded to the changed conditions in good time and introduced efficiency measures in January 2019. As a result, the cost structure was improved, particularly in the central functions. The EBIT margin rose from 1.1 percent to 1.5 percent in 2019.

The number of employees was 14,014 as at December 31, 2019 (previous year: 14,235). The efficiency program initiated at the beginning of 2019 also included a socially responsible reduction of 350 jobs at the Augsburg site. This was completed at the end of the year.

Outlook for 2020
According to the company, the impact of the coronavirus crisis on the forecast results cannot be estimated at this time. Therefore, no sales and earnings forecast can currently be given. This has already been pointed out in the annual report. Kuka is working on positioning itself for the time after the coronavirus pandemic. as