FRANKFURT, April 29 (Xinhua) -- German robotics and system technology company KUKA Group reported on Monday an increase of 54.6 percent in its net profit in the first quarter of 2019, compared with the same period of last year.
Earnings after taxes stood at 15 million euros, according to the company's quarterly financial result published on Monday.
From 2019 onwards, the Augsburg-based company is reporting in accordance with the business segments systems, robotics, logistic automation, healthcare and China.
Its total quarterly sales revenues declined slightly by 0.9 percent year on year to 737.7 million euros, the report showed.
The robotics segment, the core of KUKA Group, achieved sales revenues of 274.4 million euros in the first three months of 2019, equivalent to a 6.8 percent increase on the value for the previous year.
The increase was partly attributable to cost reductions resulting from the efficiency program, meanwhile higher sales volume also had a positive effect on the margin, the report showed.
As the world's largest growth market for robot-based automation, Chinese market posted new orders totaling 172.8 million euros in the first quarter of 2019, which was a substantial increase of 121.5 percent on the previous year's result.
KUKA anticipates a slight increase in demand this year, since the growth is expected primarily in Asia, especially in China.
"In line with our market expectations, we are anticipating a further improvement in the second half of the year. We are also expecting the intensified efficiency measures to have an even greater impact then," said KUKA's Chief Executive Officer Peter Mohnen. (one euro currently equals to 1.12 U.S. dollars)
