The train and commercial vehicle supplier Knorr- Bremse is feeling the effects of the rising costs for raw materials. Of the Operating profit fell in the first quarter by 27.8 percent to 181.5 million euros, as the company announced on Thursday. Interim boss Frank Weber said that the ongoing supply bottlenecks and the sanctions against Russia had also had an impact on business. In addition, the measures to contain the corona pandemic in China are clearly noticeable.
As a reaction, on the one hand, compensation is to be enforced among customers, and on the other hand, costs in the company are to be reduced. In addition, the subsidiary Kiepe Electric is to be sold. The sale of the division alone, with sales of around 100 million euros, should improve the profit margin in the rail business by 60 to 90 basis points.
Demand, on the other hand, remains strong. Order intake improved in the first quarter by 17.3 percent to 2.1 billion euros. With six billion euros, the company currently has more orders on its books than ever before. Sales were 1.3 percent lower than in the previous year at 1.67 billion euros. For the full year, the company continues to forecast revenues of between 6.8 and 7.2 billion euros, a profit margin of 12.5 to 14 percent and cash inflows of between 500 and 600 million euros.