Konecranes Oyj - Company Announcement

KONECRANES PLC'S ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING ON MARCH 21, 2013: PRESIDENT AND CEO PEKKA LUNDMARK COMMENTS ON THE FIRST QUARTER DEMAND AND KEY STRATEGIC INITIATIVES

KONECRANES PLC  STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE  March 21, 2013 at 10 a.m.

The Annual General Meeting of Konecranes Plc is being held today, Thursday
March 21, 2013, starting at 10 am Finnish time in Hyvinkää, Finland. In his
presentation, Pekka Lundmark, President and CEO, summarizes the year 2012,
comments on the first quarter demand, and describes the company's key strategic
initiatives going forward: "I am pleased with many aspects of our performance in 2012. A sales growth of
14 percent and EPS growth of 32 percent were good achievements. Service's
prioritization of profitability over growth delivered good results, and we are
taking actions to align the structure of our equipment business with the
ongoing market shifts. 

Demand for our products and services has developed according to expectations in
the beginning of 2013. The recently announced major orders of container
handling equipment to Indonesia and a Goliath gantry crane to a Brazilian
shipyard highlight our competitiveness in emerging markets and lend support to
a strong order intake in the first quarter of 2013. 

We are focusing on three major initiatives to further develop our
competitiveness: 

First, we are developing our offering and introducing new technologies that
enable real-time visibility to the condition and performance of the lifting
devices and machine tools that we are servicing. Our new TRUCONNECT® Remote
Service, intelligent machines with smart features and automation are key
elements of this development. Another key aspect in our R&D work is eco
efficiency: we recently presented the world's first hybrid reach stacker for
container handling. 

Second, our global market share target of 30 percent requires a strong position
in emerging markets. While already roughly a third of our sales are derived
from emerging markets, further steps call for products between the current
high-end offering and the typical low-end equipment widely used in emerging
markets. These “mid segment products” typically offer a wide selection of basic
features, without sacrificing the safety or quality of the high-end offering. 

Third, we are renewing our fragmented IT systems to create real-time visibility
to customer demand, field service, supply chain, and financials, to name a few
important examples. The first installations have now been made, and most parts
will be completed within the next 2-3 years. We believe that this initiative
has the potential to deliver a substantial productivity improvement. 

Finally, I have decided to remain based in Singapore for another 6-12 months
since my work and objectives to improve our contact network in Asia are only
halfway finished. However, I plan to move my base back to Finland, at the
latest, in mid-2014.” 

The financial guidance issued on January 31, 2013 is reiterated:

Based on the offer base and the near-term demand outlook, the year 2013 sales
are expected to be stable or slightly higher than in 2012. We expect the 2013
operating profit to improve from 2012. 

The presentation material will also be available on the company website at
www.konecranes.com after the closing of the AGM. 

KONECRANES PLC

Miikka Kinnunen
Director, Investor Relations



FURTHER INFORMATION
Analysts and Investors:
Miikka Kinnunen, Director, Investor Relations, Konecranes Plc,
tel. +358 20 427 2050

Press:
Mikael Wegmüller, Vice President, Marketing and Communications, Konecranes Plc,
tel. +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 2012, Group sales totaled EUR 2,170 million. The Group has 12,100
employees, at 626 locations in 48 countries. Konecranes is listed on NASDAQ OMX
Helsinki (symbol: KCR1V). 



DISTRIBUTION
NASDAQ OMX Helsinki
Major media
www.konecranes.com