[40] Financial risk reporting

In certain operating and finance activities, the KION Group is subject to credit risk, i.e. the risk that partners will fail to meet their contractual obligations. This risk is defined as the risk that a counterparty will default, and hence is limited to a maximum of the carrying amount of the assets relating to the counterparty involved. Default risk is limited by diversifying business partners based on certain credit ratings. The Group only enters into transactions with business partners and banks holding a good credit rating and subject to fixed limits. The potential default risk attaching to financial assets is also mitigated by secured forms of lending such as reservation of title, credit insurance and guarantees, and potential netting agreements.

Counterparty risks involving our customers are managed by the individual Group companies. To reflect the default risk, valuation allowances are recognised for defaults that have occurred and for expected defaults (see note [25]). Valuation allowances are based on the credit risk associated with the receivables, the level of expected loss in the event of a default and, taking account of any collateral, the estimated loss given default. This risk is assessed mainly using factors such as customer credit rating and failure to adhere to payment terms.

Financial transactions are only entered into with selected business partners that have an investment-grade credit rating. The KION Group’s default risk remains insignificant.

Based on the definition in IFRS 7, a liquidity risk arises if an entity is unable to meet its financial liabilities. The KION Group maintains a liquidity reserve in the form of a revolving credit facility and cash in order to ensure financial flexibility and solvency. Taking into account the credit facility that was still freely available, the unrestricted cash and cash equivalents available to the KION Group as at the reporting date amounted to €1,357.4 million (2018: €1,219.8 million). The age structure of financial liabilities is reviewed and optimised continually.

KION GROUP AG has an investment-grade credit rating, helping it to secure more advantageous funding conditions in the capital markets. In January 2017, Fitch Ratings gave KION GROUP AG an investment-grade long-term issuer rating of BBB– with a stable outlook. This rating was reaffirmed in October 2019. The rating awarded by the rating agency Standard & Poor’s for KION GROUP AG has been BB+ with a stable outlook since December 2019.

In 2019, the KION Group sold financial assets with a total value of €116.5 million (2018: €152.3 million) in factoring transactions. In some cases, the KION Group retains insignificant rights and obligations in connection with fully derecognised financial assets, primarily the provision of limited reserves for defaults. The recognised assets that serve as reserves for defaults and are reported under other current financial assets stood at €0.7 million as at 31 December 2019 (2018: €3.1 million). The short remaining term of these financial assets means their carrying amount was almost the same as their fair value. The maximum downside risk arising on the transferred financial assets that are to be fully derecognised amounted to €4.7 million as at 31 December 2019 (2018: €19.9 million).

The following tables show all of the contractually agreed undiscounted payments under recognised financial liabilities as at 31 December 2019 and 2018, including derivative financial instruments with negative fair values. > TABLES 106 – 107

The lease activities of the Industrial Trucks & Services segment mean that the KION Group may be exposed to residual value risks from the marketing of trucks that are returned by the lessee at the end of a long-term lease and subsequently sold or re-rented. Residual values in the markets for used trucks are therefore constantly monitored and forecast. The KION Group regularly assesses its aggregate risk position arising from financial services.

The risks identified are immediately taken into account by the Company in the costing of new leases by recognising write-downs or provisions and adjusting the residual values. Risk-mitigating factors include the demand for used trucks, which stabilises the residual values of the KION Group’s industrial trucks. In many cases, the residual values have underlying remarketing agreements that transfer any residual-value risk to the leasing company. This had a positive impact on the financial results in 2019. Groupwide standards to ensure that residual values are calculated conservatively, combined with an IT system for residual-value risk management, reduce risk and provide the basis on which to create the transparency required.

The KION Group mitigates its liquidity risk and interest-rate risk attaching to financial services by ensuring that most of its transactions and funding loans have matching maturities and by constantly updating its liquidity planning. Long-term leases are primarily arranged on a fixed-interest basis. If they are financed using variable-rate instruments, interest-rate derivatives are entered into in order to hedge the interest-rate risk. Hedging is carried out at regular intervals and is based either on the carrying amount of the assets or the outstanding cash flows from the underlying end customer contracts.

The lease facilities provided by various banks and an effective dunning process ensure that the Group has sufficient liquidity.

In order to exclude currency risk, the KION Group generally finances its lease business in the local currency used in each market.

The counterparty risk inherent in the lease business continues to be insignificant. The Group also mitigates any losses from defaults by its receipt of the proceeds from the sale of repossessed trucks. Furthermore, receivables management and credit risk management are refined on an ongoing basis. This involves not only the design of the business processes, but also the risk management and control processes.

In accordance with the Corporate Treasury guideline, the KION Group hedges currency risk both locally at the level of the individual companies and centrally via KION GROUP AG using prescribed hedging ratios.

The main hedging instruments employed are foreign-currency forwards, provided that there are no country-specific restrictions on their use.

In the Industrial Trucks & Services segment, hedges are entered into at individual company level for highly probable future transactions on the basis of rolling 15-month forecasts, as well as for firm obligations not reported in the statement of financial position. Currency risk arising from customer-specific project business contracts in the Supply Chain Solutions segment is hedged on a project-specific basis at individual company level. Some of these hedges are classified as cash flow hedges for accounting purposes in accordance with IFRS 9 (see note [41]).

In addition, foreign-currency forwards are employed to hedge the currency risks arising in the course of internal financing. > TABLE 108 shows an overview of the foreign-currency forwards entered into by the KION Group.

Significant currency risk arising from financial instruments is measured using a currency sensitivity method. Currency risks from financial instruments as defined by IFRS 7 are only included in calculating currency sensitivity if the financial instruments are denominated in a currency other than the functional currency of the reporting entity concerned. This means that currency risks resulting from the translation of the separate financial statements of subsidiaries into the Group presentation currency, i.e. currency translation risks, are not included.

Currency risk relevant to currency sensitivity in the KION Group arises mainly in connection with derivative financial instruments, trade receivables and trade payables. It is assumed that the portfolio of financial instruments as at the reporting date is representative of the portfolio over the whole of the year. The sensitivity analysis for the relevant currencies (after tax) is shown in > TABLE 109.

Interest-rate risk within the KION Group is managed centrally. The basis for decision-making includes sensitivity analyses of interest-rate risk positions in key currencies.

The Group’s financing takes the form of variable-rate and fixed-rate financial liabilities. It has entered into interest-rate swaps in order to hedge interest-rate risk arising on the variable-rate financial liabilities. These hedges are often accounted for as cash flow hedges in accordance with IFRS 9. An interest-rate swap has also been entered into to hedge the risk of a change in the fair value of a fixed-rate financial liability. This is accounted for as a fair value hedge (see note [41]). > TABLE 110 provides an overview of the interest-rate derivatives used by the KION Group.

The shift in the relevant yield curves was simulated to assess interest-rate risk. The cumulative effect after tax resulted from variable-rate exposures and is shown in > TABLE 111.