KONE upgrades its full-year sales and operating income (EBIT) outlook

KONE Corporation, stock exchange release, September 11, 2013 at 15.10 EET

KONE Corporation upgrades its sales and operating income (EBIT) outlook for the full year 2013. KONE now estimates its net sales to grow by 11-14% at comparable exchange rates as compared to 2012. The operating income (EBIT) is now expected to be in the range of EUR 920-955 million, assuming that translation exchange rates do not materially deviate from the situation of the beginning of September 2013.

Previously KONE expected its net sales to grow by 9-11% at comparable exchange rates as compared to 2012. The operating income (EBIT) was expected to be in the range of EUR 890-920 million, assuming no material deviation in translation exchange rates from the situation of the beginning of 2013.

The primary reason for the upgrades is the business impact of the improved liquidity situation in the Chinese economy, as a result of which KONE's new equipment deliveries in China have during the third quarter been stronger than expected and are expected to continue to be strong during the remainder of 2013. In addition, a better than expected productivity development in KONE's production network improves KONE's operating income (EBIT) outlook.

The liquidity situation in China tightened significantly in June, and KONE expected this tightness to have an impact on customer payments and therefore its new equipment deliveries during the second half of the year. The liquidity situation in China did, however, improve rapidly, and KONE's deliveries have been stronger than expected. The improved liquidity situation has also been reflected in good collection of accounts receivable.

KONE's business development in other regions has been largely in line with its expectations.

"I am very pleased with the continued strength of our business in China and the encouraging development in value-add in our global production network. We have been positively surprised by how rapidly the financing situation in the Chinese market has improved from the tight situation of June-July. Due to this quick change in the liquidity situation, our new equipment deliveries in China have been and are expected to be stronger than what we estimated in connection with our second quarter results announcement in July. The new order demand for elevators and escalators in the Chinese market has developed in line with our expectations and our estimate of the full-year market growth remains 10-15%", says Matti Alahuhta, President and CEO of KONE Corporation.

KONE will publish its Interim Report for January-September 2013 on October 22, 2013.

For further information, please contact:

Karla Lindahl, Director, Investor Relations, tel. +358 (0) 204 75 4441

Sender:

KONE Corporation

Henrik Ehrnrooth
CFO

Anne Korkiakoski
Executive Vice President
Marketing & Communications

About KONE

KONE is one of the global leaders in the elevator and escalator industry. The company has been committed to understanding the needs of its customers for the past century, providing industry-leading elevators, escalators and automatic building doors as well as innovative solutions for modernization and maintenance. The company's objective is to offer the best People Flow(TM) experience by developing and delivering solutions that enable people to move smoothly, safely, comfortably and without waiting in buildings in an increasingly urbanizing environment. In 2012, KONE had annual net sales of EUR 6.3 billion and approximately 40,000 employees. KONE class B shares are listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd in Finland.

www.kone.com