KBA anticipates strong second half in 2015

KBA’s results for the first quarter of 2015 saw group order intake of 306.7 million EUR (345.4 million USD) up 27 percent on the same period in 2014, with order backlog 130 million EUR (146.4 million USD) higher than at the beginning of the quarter.

In contract, sales were down 16.9 percent year-on-year, with group earnings before taxes (EBT) down from a loss of 12.1 million EUR (13.6 million USD) to a loss of 17.7 million EUR (19.9 million USD).

The expected strong second half performance means the sales target of more than one billion EUR in 2015 ‘remains realistic’, KBA noted, and its management board is also targeting an improvement in earnings.

KBA chief executive officer and president Claus Bolza-Schünemann (pictured) said: ‘KBA will generate far more than 50 percent of group sales in the second half of the year with corresponding positive effects on earnings. In light of the solid number of new projects I am confident that we will be able to achieve our group sales target for 2015 of over one billion EUR with a better EBT than in 2014 and an EBT margin of up to two percent of sales in spite of a weaker Q1 and Q2 this year.’

By region, domestic sales fell 8.8 million EUR (9.9 million USD) to 35.3 million EUR (39.8 million USD), which raised the export level from 79.3 percent to 80.1 percent. Deliveries to other parts of Europe fell to 46.3 million EUR (52.2 million USD). This region’s contribution to group sales was below average at 26.1 percent (31 percent in 2014). Business in North America jumped from 24.4 million EUR (27.5 million USD) to 30.2 million EUR (34 million USD), or 11.4 percent to 17 percent of the total. The proportion generated by Asia and the Pacific stood at 28.5 percent. Given the dip in demand in China the total sales volume of 50.5 million EUR (56.9 million USD) in this region was less than the previous year. At 15 million EUR (16.9 million USD), revenue attributable to Latin America and Africa came to 8.5 percent of group sales.

KBA also said that its strong footing in packaging printing proved to be beneficial, with KBA-NotaSys, KBA-Digital & Web, KBA-MetalPrint, KBA-Flexotecnica and other companies securing a raft of new orders. Sheet-fed offset presses and related systems generate more than 50 percent of the group’s sales, with package printers dominating this business unit.

*currency conversions made on the morning of May 12 using xe.com/ucc