Konecranes Oyj - Company Announcement

KONECRANES PLC - KONECRANES TO RESTRUCTURE OPERATIONS IN EUROPE

KONECRANES PLC   STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE   December 21, 2011 at 10:00

As preliminarily communicated in the January-September interim report release
on October 20, 2011, Konecranes has initiated actions in the fourth quarter to
lower the cost base in Europe. 

Within Business Area Service, operations will be restructured in a number of
European countries. Planned actions include closing down unprofitable units,
merging operations, personnel reductions and streamlining of administration.
The estimated need to reduce personnel amounts to approximately 100 employees.
The countries estimated to be affected by planned actions are Austria, Belgium,
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the
UK and Ukraine. 

Konecranes targets annual cost savings of approximately EUR 7 million with
these actions. Furthermore, Konecranes expects to book restructuring costs of
approximately EUR 6 million due to these actions in the fourth quarter of 2011
of which asset write-downs are estimated to amount to approximately EUR 2
million. These restructuring actions are expected to be implemented by the end
of the first quarter of 2012. 

Within Business Area Equipment, Konecranes has initiated actions to restructure
some of the operations and production in Austria and Germany. Assembly of air
balancers in Thalgau, Austria, is planned to be combined with Konecranes'
overall crane component supply chain. In addition, Konecranes' Industrial
Cranes business unit is planning to consolidate its operations in Germany. 

These actions are estimated to affect approximately 20 employees in Germany.
With these planned actions, Konecranes targets annual cost savings of
approximately EUR 2 million. Konecranes expects to incur restructuring costs of
approximately EUR 4 million due to these actions in the fourth quarter of 2011
of which asset write-downs are estimated to amount to approximately EUR 2
million. These restructuring actions are expected to be implemented by the end
of 2012. 

Due to business reorganization, Konecranes will start statutory negotiations
regarding possible personnel reductions in Finland. It is estimated that the
permanent personnel reductions will affect 9 employees at most within Business
Area Service and in Konecranes IT. Planned changes within the Business Area
Service are part of the European-wide restructuring of operations. Konecranes
IT intends to rebuild its Service Delivery organization, which may have an
impact on the current IT-related business structures and responsibilities. 

All the above-mentioned actions are estimated to affect approximately 125
employees in total within the Konecranes Group. With these planned actions,
Konecranes targets annual cost savings of approximately EUR 9 million in total.
Konecranes expects to incur restructuring costs of approximately EUR 10 million
in total due to these actions in the fourth quarter of 2011 of which asset
write-downs are estimated to amount to approximately EUR 4 million in total. 

Konecranes repeats the 2011 financial guidance: “We forecast the 2011 operating
profit, excluding possible restructuring costs, to be approximately on the same
level as in 2010. Sales are expected to be higher than in 2010. Business Area
Service operating profit in 2011 is expected to fall short of 2010 level. The
2011 operating profit of the Business Area Equipment is forecasted to increase
from 2010.” 

KONECRANES PLC

Miikka Kinnunen, Director, Investor Relations


FURTHER INFORMATION
Investors and analysts:
Miikka Kinnunen, Director, Investor Relations
E-mail: miikka.kinnunen@konecranes.com or phone +358 20 427 2050

Teo Ottola, CFO
E-mail: teo.ottola@konecranes.com or phone +358 50 5211 064

Media:
Mikael Wegmüller, Vice President, Marketing and Communications
E-mail: mikael.wegmuller@konecranes.com or phone +358 20 427 2008


Konecranes is a world-leading group of Lifting Businesses™, serving a broad
range of customers, including manufacturing and process industries, shipyards,
ports and terminals. Konecranes provides productivity-enhancing lifting
solutions as well as services for lifting equipment and machine tools of all
makes. In 2010, Group sales totaled EUR 1,546 million. The Group has 11,400
employees at 578 locations in 46 countries. Konecranes is listed on the NASDAQ
OMX Helsinki (symbol: KCR1V). 




DISTRIBUTION
NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd
Media
www.konecranes.com