Emerging markets play greater role as KBA reaffirms 2012 targets

- Volume of sales to export markets rose to 89.7& after 18.6% fall in domestic sales

 

- Positive impact of Drupa will become more apparent in the second half

 

German press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer (KBA) is on course to achieve a 16 percent growth in sales in 2012 with the impact of Drupa and increased business in Asia, Africa and South America helping the company report strong financial results for the first half of the year.

 

KBA saw overall sales grow 15.9 percent compared to the first half of 2011, increasing from €509.7 million to €590.5 million. Of that, web and special press sales increased 38.2 percent to €347.5 million, although sheet-fed offset press sales shrank 5.9 percent to €243 million.

 

Order intake at June 30, 2012 stood at €579.3 million, a 15.2 percent decline largely attributable to a lack of investment by web printers causing that business area to face a 42.2 fall in new orders, undermining 17.4 percent growth in sheet-fed orders, which were boosted by Drupa.

 

As of the end of June 2012, overall order backlog was up 32.7 percent year-on-year, at €814.5 million, with both the sheet-fed offset and web and special presses business areas growing.

 

The positive impact of Drupa will become more apparent in the second half, KBA said.

 

KBA has also recently expanded its cost-cutting program, which it said resulted in a substantial improvement in earnings compared to 2011.

 

Year-on-year, KBA reported an operating loss of €7.3 million becoming an operating profit of €13.6 million.

 

Earnings before tax also turned from a loss to profit, meaning the company’s net loss of €14.7 million in the first half of 2011 became €4.5 million profit in 2012.

 

KBA said the volume of its sales to export markets in the first half rose to 89.7 percent after an 18.6 percent fall in domestic sales. Demand in China, coupled with sales elsewhere in Asia and the Pacific, contributed to 24.7 percent of the group total, approaching the same volume as Europe.

 

The volume of group sales attributable to South America and Africa was an above average 26.7 percent, although the North America volume sank from 8.3 percent to seven percent.

 

KBA president and chief executive officer Claus Bolza-Schünemann (pictured, top) said: ‘At the end of the second quarter KBA was on course to achieve its targets, despite the current economic instability and the slump in major sales markets in southern Europe and other parts of the world.

 

‘We hope that the problems surrounding the Euro [currency] and their repercussions on the global economy and on our business will be kept to a minimum in future months as we continue to focus on achieving our joint goals.’

 

Read more on KBA here

Read more on Drupa 2012 here

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