KONE Corporation Interim Report for January–March, 2006

Stock Exchange Release Published 25/04/2006

KONE's Order Intake Extraordinarily Strong

  • First quarter order intake growth of 39%, 34% at comparable exchange rates, was extraordinarily strong in all markets for both new equipment and modernizations.
  • Order book margin (%) is at the same level as a year ago.
  • Net sales grew 13% to EUR 735 million; at comparable exchange rates growth was 9%.
  • Operating income improved 33% to EUR 51.7 (39.0 x)) million.
  • KONE reiterates its outlook for 2006 sales and operating income.

Key Figures

1-3/2006Pro forma 1-3/2005Pro forma 1-12/2005Previous accounting period 6-12/2005
Orders received, MEUR840.3604.12,639.21,622.1
Order book, MEUR2,654.02,023.12,326.82,326.8
Sales, MEUR735.0649.33,242.22,101.4
Operating income, MEUR51.739.0 x)272.0 x)194.7
Cash flow from operations (before financial items and taxes), MEUR117.368.8329.4215.4
Net income, MEUR31.8-40.0108.8124.0
Net debt, MEUR129.731.399.399.3
Total equity/total assets, %26.832.531.231.2
Gearing, %22.64.614.814.8

x) Excluding a EUR 89.2 million provision for the development and restructuring program. Operating income, including the provision, was EUR 182.8 million in 2005 and EUR -50.2 million for the period 1-3/2005.

KONE President, Matti Alahuhta, in conjunction with the review:

"The first quarter financial results were according to plan. The market continued to be strong globally. KONE's extraordinarily strong order intake and simultaneous profitability improvement reflect good progress in our development projects, which are starting to produce more and more concrete results.

"We are gradually becoming more customer focused, and our initiatives to rapidly improve our product competitiveness in North America and the Asia-Pacific region have been successful. The development actions we are taking in our service business will support and simplify the work of our field people.

"We are currently developing new strengths to complement our traditional competences. I am very pleased with our progress."

Analyst and Media Conference and Conference Call

A meeting for the press and analysts will be held on 25 April, 2006 at 2:00 p.m. Finnish time at KONE Building, address Keilasatama 3, Espoo.

A telephone conference for analysts and investors, conducted in English, will begin at 4:00 p.m. Finnish time and will also be available as live audio web cast on the company website. Callers may access the conference directly at the following telephone numbers:

+1-617-213-8895 (US callers), or
+44-20-7365-8426 (Non-US callers),
password: KONE Corporation.

On demand copy of the conference will be available on the company website later the same day.

Sender:

KONE Corporation

Aimo Rajahalme
Executive Vice President, Finance

Minna Mars Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications & IR
For further information please contact:
Aimo Rajahalme, Executive Vice President, Finance, tel. +358 (0) 204 75 4484

KONE is one of the world's leading elevator and escalator companies. It provides its customers with industry-leading elevators and escalators and innovative solutions for their maintenance and modernization. KONE also provides maintenance of automatic building doors. In 2005, KONE had annual net sales of approximately EUR three billion and about 27,000 employees. Its class B shares are listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange.

www.kone.com

Attachments:

The entire release in PDF format

2006-04-25 KONE Corporation Interim Report for January–March, 2006

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