This corresponds to a drop of 5.6% compared to Q1/19 €435.4M. “Following a successful start to 2020, business contracted sharply towards the end of the first quarter as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. Widespread uncertainty is negatively impacting investment activity among our customers and existing orders are being postponed to an extent,” explains Martin Lehner, CEO of the Wacker Neuson Group. 

Given that it is not possible at present to predict the further impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Wacker Neuson Executive Board withdrew its guidance for fiscal 2020 on April 21. “It is currently not feasible to foresee how the pandemic will affect customer demand moving forward, the robustness of global supply chains or our Group’s production output. Looking ahead to the coming months, however, we expect the economic effects to have a much bigger impact on our business than in the first quarter,” explains Martin Lehner. 

To respond to the current level of demand, the Group has adopted various short time work models. The Executive Board has also implemented numerous initiatives to cut costs and secure liquidity. These include re-evaluation of all planned investments, as well as a joint decision taken by the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board to propose suspending the dividend at the AGM.