In the third quarter of 2015, KUKA generated a volume of orders received amounting to €694,9 million, 25% higher than in the same quarter of the previous year (Q3/14: €556.0 million). Orders received by the newly-consolidated Swisslog are included in this result. Excluding Swisslog, the increase was 2.1%. In the first nine months of 2015, new orders reached a value of €2,134.8 million or €1,774.2 million excluding Swisslog. In comparison with the figure of €1,741.7 million for the first nine months of 2014, this represents an increase of 22.6% (1.9% excluding Swisslog).

In the third quarter of 2015, the Robotics division reported orders received totaling €222.4 million, up 20.2% on the same quarter of the previous year. Both the automotive sector and general industry as well as the service segment managed to improve the volume of orders received. The result for general industry was 17.2% higher than in the previous year. This is attributable to the successful restructuring of the sales organization and the strategic focus on this customer segment. Overall, general industry accounted for 40.4% of the orders, the automotive segment for 39.3% and service business for 20.3%. Comparing the performance in the first nine months, orders received rose by 9.3% from €628.2 million (9M/14) to €686.5 million (9M/15).

In the third quarter of 2015, the Systems division reported new orders amounting to €355.1 million. This represents a decline of 6.0% in comparison with the same period last year (Q3/14: €377.8 million). The reasons for the decline were the more difficult market conditions on the European car market for Systems and the large orders in the aircraft construction segment in the previous year. The automotive business in North America continued its highly dynamic performance. In the first three quarters of 2015, Systems booked new orders worth €1,114.0 million (9M/14: €1,137.7 million).

Orders received at the Swisslog division amounted to €127.3 million in the third quarter of 2015 and to €360.6 million in the first nine months of 2015. Swisslog was not consolidated in the previous year.

KUKA Group generated sales revenues of €722.0 million in the third quarter of 2015. The new Swisslog division contributed €154.3 million to the consolidated figure. Total sales revenues were 33.9% higher than in the third quarter of 2014. Adjusted for Swisslog revenues, there was a rise in sales revenues of 5.3% compared with the previous year. In the first three quarters of 2015, sales revenues totaled €2,199.4 million (€1,730.8 million excluding Swisslog). Compared with the same period in 2014 (9M/14: €1,507.9 million) growth amounted to 45.9% (14.8% excluding Swisslog).

The Robotics division achieved sales of €207.4 million in the third quarter of 2015. This corresponds to a decline of 6.7%. The main cause of this negative performance was the automotive segment. As a result of the order policy of automobile manufacturers in 2015, it is the first and the last quarters which are likely to be stronger. Conversely the general industry and service segments grew over the past quarter compared with the previous year. In the first nine months of 2015, Robotics attained sales revenues of €659.4 million. This is the first time that a value of this magnitude has been reached after a nine-month period. Compared with the previous year's figure there was a rise of 6.3% (9M/14: €620.3 million).

The Systems division generated sales revenues of €367.3 million in the third quarter of 2015. This is equivalent to an increase of 13.2% on the previous year's result for the same quarter (Q3/14: €324.5 million). Systems benefited from the high levels of orders received in previous quarters and was accordingly able to achieve very high capacity utilization. Particularly the body-in-white and aerospace segments and, in regional terms, the USA and Europe achieved significant growth in sales revenues. In the first nine months of 2015, sales revenues totaled €1,099.5 million compared with €903.3 million in the previous year. This represented a rise of 21.7%.

The Swisslog division posted sales of €154.3 million in the third quarter of 2015. The equivalent result for the first nine months was €468.6 million. Swisslog was not consolidated in the previous year.

KUKA Group continued on its course of profitable growth in the third quarter of 2015. 'KUKA can look back on a good third quarter. All our divisions contributed to this performance. In this quarter, once again, we were particularly pleased to receive major orders from both general industry and the automotive sector,' states Dr. Till Reuter, CEO of KUKA AG. 'For 2015 as a whole, we expect to meet our targets for the year.'

The book-to-bill ratio, i.e. orders received in relation to sales revenues, amounted to 0.96 in the third quarter of 2015 (Q3/14: 1.03) and 0.97 in the first three quarters of 2015 (9M/14: 1.16). The order backlog including Swisslog amounted to €1,727.4 million as at September 30, 2015. The figure thus surpassed the previous year's level by 34.3% (September 30, 2014: €1,286.1 million). Compared with the figure for the previous quarter, there was a slight decrease of 3.3% (June 30, 2015: €1,786.3 million). The newly-consolidated Swisslog division had an order backlog of €454.7 million as at September 30, 2015.
KUKA Group generated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounting to €199.3 million in the first nine months of 2015 (9M/2014: €129.2 million). This corresponds to an increase of 54.3%.

In the third quarter, KUKA Group attained an EBIT margin of 5.2% (with the purchase price allocation effect) or 6.8% (without the purchase price allocation effect). The equivalent figure for the previous year's quarter was 6.8%. The relatively high capacity utilization in the operating divisions and economies of scale more than compensated for the additional costs of integrating Swisslog and the investments for the new Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system and the new ERP system. The EBIT margin amounted to 6.5% in the first nine months of 2014 and to 4.8% in the same period of 2015 including the purchase price allocation effect and 6.9% excluding this effect.

The earnings after taxes of €63.4 million in the first nine months of 2015 correspond to a 40.6% increase on the previous year's result for the same period (9M/14: €45.1 million).

The number of employees in KUKA Group grew by 25.9% from 9,588 to 12,071 in the period from September 30, 2014 to September 30, 2015. This growth was primarily due to the acquisition of Swisslog and the increase of the workforce in the automotive, research & development, general industry and service areas.

OUTLOOK
Given the current economic forecasts and general conditions, KUKA expects high demand in the 2015 financial year, particularly from the North America and Asia regions, and here especially from China. Demand in Europe is expected to remain relatively stable or to rise slightly. From a sector perspective, general industry growth is expected to be strong. This is due in part to the high potential for automation solutions as well as the positive economic prospects for general industry customers.

Automotive customers have already significantly increased investments over the past few years. Demand in 2015 should therefore develop relatively stably altogether, with positive influences from China and the USA.

On the basis of the current general conditions and exchange rates, KUKA is anticipating sales revenues of approximately €2.9 billion. The sales development will profit from the first-time consolidation of Swisslog. In addition, both customer segments - general industry and automotive - and from a regional viewpoint, China and North America, will make a positive contribution to sales development. Based on the current economic environment and the development of sales, KUKA Group expects to achieve an EBIT margin of about 6.5 to 7.0% before PPA (purchase price allocation) for Swisslog, and including the positive effects of the sale of HLS Group and the tools and dies business unit. Investments in growth in general industry and China as well as the integration and restructuring costs for Swisslog are having an impact on the EBIT margin. In addition, the introduction of product lifecycle management software at Systems and ERP software to be used throughout the Group will result in higher costs during 2015, but in subsequent years they will help make further improvements in efficiency. Having regard to the expenditure for purchase price allocation, KUKA Group expects a lower EBIT margin. In the coming years, after restructuring and an increase in efficiency at Swisslog, a positive contribution to value added is anticipated for KUKA Group.

The complete interim report for the third quarter of 2015 is available under the following link:
http://www.kuka-ag.de/en/investor_relations/presentations/start.htm

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