Konecranes comments on its strategy and next steps following the abandonment of the planned merger and cancels its Annual General Meeting scheduled for March 30, 2022

As announced earlier today, the planned merger between Konecranes and Cargotec was jointly cancelled by the Boards of Directors of both companies. Konecranes will now focus on developing its business and value-creation potential on a stand-alone basis.

Konecranes is a world-leading company in lifting businesses, offering productivity and safety enhancing and sustainable lifting solutions as well as services for lifting equipment of all makes. Konecranes aims for a seamless and integrated material flow beyond cranes and port equipment with real-time tracking and provides advanced services with a complementary software offering to ensure optimized operations for its customers.

Konecranes continues to leverage the global megatrends, digitalization, productivity and sustainability as well as its core competencies to achieve profitable growth in the long-term. The Group’s current longer-term profitability margin target is an adjusted EBITA margin of 11 percent. Konecranes has given financial guidance for full-year 2022, and expects both net sales and adjusted EBITA margin to improve from the previous year. In 2021, Konecranes adjusted EBITA margin totalled 9.8 percent.

 “Thanks to its strong market position, leading technology, unique service offering, and talented people, Konecranes has great potential for continued growth and value creation, and a promising future. In recent years and throughout the pandemic, Konecranes has done excellent job in improving its customer offering, operations and profitability. Konecranes will continue to explore new business concepts and profitable growth potential in material handling. The Konecranes Board of Directors has started the process to find a new CEO for the company,” says Christoph Vitzthum, the Chairman of Konecranes.

“We have maintained excellent performance throughout the uncertainty caused by the pandemic and merger planning, demonstrating the strong commitment of our people. Now that we channel our full focus and energy on developing Konecranes and its business, there is a lot to achieve. As before, we remain committed to business excellence, continuous improvement, and sustainability, and will continue our successful trajectory,” says Teo Ottola, the Interim CEO and CFO of Konecranes.

Business Area strategies

Service is Konecranes’ growth engine, providing industry-leading maintenance services for all types and makes of industrial lifting equipment, and improving the safety, productivity and sustainability of customers’ operations. Konecranes has an unmatched service offering, tapping into the circular economy by extending the equipments’ lifecycles, and powered by digitally enabled ecosystem. Konecranes has a long history of improving its Service profitability, and further improvement continues to be the ambition.

In Industrial Equipment, Konecranes will continue to strengthen its position as a global leader in lifting equipment and supporting customers moving from independent manual equipment to smart, connected and automated equipment and overall sustainable material flow solutions. Konecranes provides a broad range of lifting and material handling solutions and equipment to a wide range of industries. In recent years, Konecranes has focused on improving the Industrial Equipment profitability and this work will continue.

In Port Solutions, the long-term prospects related to container handling remain good overall and the focus is on electrification, automation and digitalization of ports and terminals, as the customers are automating operations and seeking productivity, safety and eco-efficiency improvements. Konecranes offers a wide range of productivity-enhancing container handling equipment, solutions and related services, boosting sustainability across the industry.

Sustainability as a key priority

Sustainability is a strength and priority for Konecranes. Earlier this year, Konecranes announced its new science-based climate targets, which are in line with the Paris Agreement, aiming to limit global warming to 1.5°C. Konecranes is committed to reduce emissions in its own operations by 50 percent by 2030. Konecranes is also committed to reduce emissions in its value chain by 50 percent by 2030, encompassing the use of sold products and steel-related purchases. Furthermore, Konecranes is committed to the corporate sustainability principles of the UN Global Compact.

Konecranes Leadership Team

Konecranes Leadership Team continues as is and consists of:

Teo Ottola, Interim CEO and CFO
Fabio Fiorino, Executive Vice President, Business Area Service
Carolin Paulus, Executive Vice President, Business Area Industrial Equipment
Mika Mahlberg, Executive Vice President, Business Area Port Solutions
Juha Pankakoski, Executive Vice President, Technologies
Anneli Karkovirta, Senior Vice President, Human Resources
Sirpa Poitsalo, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and
Topi Tiitola, Senior Vice President, Integration and Project Management Office.

The Konecranes Board of Directors has started the search for a new CEO.

Capital Markets Day

Konecranes plans to host a Capital Markets Day in the autumn 2022. The exact date will be announced later.

Cancellation of the Annual General Meeting

Due to abandonment of the planned merger with Cargotec, Konecranes cancels the Annual General Meeting scheduled for March 30, 2022. Konecranes will convene the 2022 Annual General Meeting at a later stage.

Webcast for analysts, investors and media

Konecranes will host a webcast for analysts, investors and media today at 11:00 am EEST. Christoph Vizthum, the Chairman of Konecranes and Teo Ottola, Interim CEO and CFO will be speaking at the event and will be available for questions. The event will be held in English. The webcast can be followed and questions can be asked through this link https://konecranes.videosync.fi/2022-03-29-webcast or by calling one of the following telephone numbers:

Participant Passcode: 96855502#