Krones' stable growth continued in the second quarter of 2023 despite challenging conditions. One major reason for this is that the company's markets are hardly affected by economic fluctuations. Sales developed well in the second quarter despite the unchanged tense situation in the procurement of electrical components. From April to June 2023, revenues increased by 13 percent to € 1.1 billion compared to the same period last year. This means that revenue in the first half of 2023 grew by 17 percent from almost two billion euros in the previous year to € 2.3 billion.
After the extraordinarily high order intake in the first quarter of the year, customer orders normalised at a high level from April to June 2023. At just under € 1.3 billion, order bookings therefore failed to match the previous year's figure of € 1.6 billion, as expected. In the first half of 2023, Krones posted order bookings totalling € 2.8 billion, only about ten percent below the record figure of € 3.1 billion for the same period last year. The international beverage industry's willingness to invest and market activity remain high. The machine builder therefore expects incoming orders to continue to develop well at a normalised level in the second half of 2023.
The continuing scarcity of electrical components presented Krones with major challenges in production during the first half of 2023, resulting in additional expenses. Thanks to the company's overall increased efficiency and flexibility, Krones was nevertheless able to improve its earning power compared to the previous year, as planned. The company compensated for rising material costs with price increases for its machines and lines. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) rose by 26 percent to € 221 million from January to June 2023. Earnings before taxes improved by 42 percent to € 161 million in the first half of the year. Krones achieved a consolidated profit of € 121 million in the first two quarters of 2023. This corresponds to an increase of 46 percent compared to the previous year. In the second quarter of 2023, Ebitda increased by 21 percent to € 107 million compared to the same quarter of the previous year. From April to June, the company generated a 34 percent higher profit of around € 60 million.
The stable growth of Krones' markets, which is hardly influenced by economic cycles, has continued in the first half of 2023. Demand for the company's products and services remains high. At the same time, the business environment for Krones remains challenging. There are a number of imponderables that could affect the company's business processes and production, such as geopolitical risks in Europe and other regions of the world, as well as high inflation rates and interest rates. Material bottlenecks and problems in the global supply chains also remain a factor of uncertainty. Krones expects that the situation on the procurement markets relevant to the company, especially for electrical components, could ease during the second half of 2023.
Due to the good overall performance in the second quarter of the current business year, in mid-July the Executive Board raised the forecast for sales growth in the full year 2023 to eleven to 13 percent on the basis of the current production planning for the second half of 2023. Previously, eight to eleven percent had been expected.
