Order Intake/Order Book

The Demag Cranes Group generated order intake of EUR 841.9 million in financial year 2008/2009. This was 36.4 percent down on the previous year as a result of the general fall in demand. The order book stood at EUR 313.1 million as at 30 September 2009, compared with EUR 523.5 million a year earlier.

Order intake in the Industrial Cranes segment fell in financial year 2008/2009 as our customers continued to show little or no readiness to invest or otherwise postponed capital spending plans. Comparing financial year 2008/2009 with the previous year, order intake dropped by EUR 274.0 million or 40.8 percent. This weak performance relative to the previous year is to some extent put into perspective by the fact that an above-average number of orders for Process Cranes was generated in the second and third quarters of financial year 2007/2008. The Industrial Cranes segment order book came to EUR 197.7 million at 30 September 2009 (30 September 2008: EUR 350.4 million).

The sharp downturn in international cargo business also made its mark on order intake in the Port Technology segment. This decreased by 52.1 percent compared with financial year 2007/2008, falling from EUR 316.8 million to EUR 151.8 million. All product lines were affected by the negative trend. Delayed contract awards for large port projects and the observed general tendency to put off capital spending brought business virtually to a standstill with regard to our Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and Automated Stacking Cranes (ASCs). Delivery of the last consignment to our customer Euromax was an exception here. We also saw a substantial drop in demand for Mobile Harbour Cranes. While business here fell away almost completely in the first and second quarters, the order intake stabilised at a low level towards the end of the year. The order book amounted to EUR 69.4 million at 30 September 2009 (30 September 2008: EUR 121.7 million).

We also suffered a fall in demand for our products and services in the Services segment. Order intake was down by EUR 42.5 million or 12.7 percent. The impact on spare parts business was especially severe. The Services segment order book totalled EUR 46.0 million at 30 September 2009 (30 September 2008: EUR 51.4 million).

Revenue decreased compared with financial year 2007/2008 as a result of the weak order volume. At Group level, revenue fell by EUR 178.2 million or 14.5 percent.

The segments were affected by the revenue decrease in different ways:

With a 4.4 percent reduction, revenue fell by far less an amount in the Industrial Cranes segment than in the other two segments due to a well-filled order book, as mentioned earlier. The main revenue drivers were Standard and Process Cranes. While the orders for some of these cranes were received in financial year 2007/2008, the cranes were delivered to customers and the revenue realised in financial year 2008/2009 after an average manufacturing time of six to twelve months.

Port Technology segment revenue dropped compared with financial year 2007/2008 by EUR 121.5 million or 37.3 percent. As this segment accounts for substantially more project business than the other two segments, we were hit especially hard here by the financial and economic crisis. While the volume of orders stabilised at a low level towards the end of the financial year, it was not possible to make up for the severe decrease in revenue experienced in the second and third quarters.

Revenue in the Services segment similarly fell from EUR 329.1 million in the previous year to EUR 297.7 million in financial year 2008/2009. Reduced crane utilisation by our customers brought a drop in demand for our high-revenue, high-margin spare parts. This trend made itself felt particularly severely in the third quarter of 2008/2009. The demand situation became steady again towards the end of the financial year.

Revenue is distributed among regions as follows:

Looking at the regional picture, we suffered decreases in revenue in almost all regions. However, at 9.4 percent, the fall in revenue in emerging markets was significantly lower than in mature markets, where we recorded a reduction of 16.9 percent.