Kone, a Finnish global leader in the elevator and escalator industry, expects to see no growth or a decline in orders from China this year.
Because of the falling installations in China, the elevator sector has struggled in recent years.
According to Kone’s report “The increased uncertainty in many major markets impacts the visibility of the overall market development for 2019 … In China the market is expected to decline slightly or to be stable in units ordered.”
“We have seen good activity on the infrastructure side, but the restrictions imposed on the property markets by the Chinese government cause construction business in China to slow,” said Kone’s Chief Executive Henrik Ehrnrooth.
“This has clearly slowed down the property markets…It departs from what President Xi constantly says, that houses are for living and not for speculation,” Ehrnrooth added.
Kone expected its profit will return to grow in 2019 and reach between 1.12 billion and 1.24 billion euros.
“We believe our profit turns to growth, as it did now in the fourth quarter and we believe our full-year profit will turn to growth this year,” Ehrnrooth says.
