Drupa to boost KBA performance in second half

- Big business booked at Drupa by KBA
 
- To develop new business lines and markets to achieve medium-term targets
 

Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) recorded strong performance at Drupa, with contracts worth in excess of €100 million signed in Düsseldorf and post-show business brisk.
 
Speaking at the press manufacturer’s 87th annual general meeting, president and chief executive officer Claus Bolza-Schünemann (pictured, top) said the preliminary figures for KBA’s sheet-fed offset division show that the volume of new orders booked to the end of May approached €300 million, roughly 12 percent up on 2011, although he added that the positive impact of Drupa on order intake and sales will not work through to the bottom line for some weeks or even months.
 
Orders for web and special presses totalled approximately €190 million, a drop on the 2011 figure to the end of May of more than €335 million, which had been boosted by some major contracts.
 
The group order intake of just over €486 million for the first five months was thus lower than 12 months earlier but higher for group sales over the same period, which stood at around €458 million or around eight percent up on the prior-year figure.
 
The order backlog at May 31 exceeded €854 million and was a good €236 million above the prior-year figure. This will contribute to the higher sales targeted in the second six months. 

Full-year targets

KBA will publish its 2012 half-year results on August 14, but the company’s management is targeting full-year sales of more than €1.2 billion and a higher pre-tax group profit of €3.3 million compared to 2011.
 
This projection is based on an anticipated high level of plant utilisation in the second half-year and a positive impact on earnings from ongoing cost-cutting activities.
 
Fellow press manufacturer Heidelberg recently expressed its hopes for the impact of Drupa 2012, and expects to generate incoming orders of €800 million as a result during the first quarter of its 2012/13 financial year.
 

Medium-term growth

To achieve its medium-term growth potential, KBA said it is planning to develop promising new business lines and markets.
 
This includes entry into the high volume digital print market with the KBA RotaJET 76 inkjet web press.
 
It will initially target printers of books, brochures, commercials, direct mail and magazines. KBA is also planning to expand its sizeable share of the packaging press market with a new web offset press for flexible packaging, the Varius 80 built by KBA-MePrint.
 
Subsidiary KBA-Metronic is extending its range of packaging-related systems encompassing marking, coding and brand protection.
 
KBA is also seeking to acquire a substantial interest in a domestic Chinese manufacturer of sheet-fed offset presses before the end of 2012, so as to expand the lower end of its press range with products manufactured locally.
 
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Read more on Drupa 2012 here
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