KBA remains confident of 2012 performance

German press manufacturer KBA has reaffirmed its targets for 2012, fuelled by better-than-expected performance at Drupa 2012.
 
In its first quarter figures for the 2012 financial year, KBA saw sales up four percent compared to the first quarter of 2011, with web and special presses growing nearly 28 percent although sheet-fed offset press sales were down 20 percent.
 
Overall order intake was down 45.2 percent year-on-year in Q1, with sheet-fed offset press order intake up 8.1 percent and web and special presses down 71.1 percent. Order backlog sat at €798.8 million, up 28.9 percent in Q1 2012 over Q1 2011, with both sheet-fed offset and web and special press figures higher at March 31, 2012, growing 12.8 and 355.4 percent respectively.
 
For the first quarter, KBA saw an operating loss of €1.8 million in 2011 become an operating profit of €2 million this year. Earnings before taxes also swung from a loss of €3.9 million to a gain of €200,000, while the net loss figure shrank from €5.8 million to €800,000 year-on-year.

'We’ll continue to exploit the strategic options offered by consolidation in the sector'

 
KBA management has reaffirmed its projected targets for 2012 of an increase in sales to over €1.2 billion and higher pre-tax earnings compared to 2011. These projections are based on the sizeable order backlog, which includes a large proportion of high-margin products, and on an anticipated business stimulus from Drupa in the second and third quarters. Given the unsettled market climate management is unwilling to offer a more detailed prognosis until the summer, when the figures for the trade fair will have been finalised and post-Drupa business can be assessed more accurately.
 
KBA president and chief executive officer Claus Bolza-Schünemann (pictured, top) said: ‘We have signed a lot of contracts with both existing and new customers. But it will be weeks, or even months, before all the financing has been clarified, customer prepayments have been received and we and other exhibitors can assess our true performance at Drupa 2012.’
 
Bolza-Schünemann said he is confident that ‘a sound financial base and healthy balance sheet, a uniquely diverse portfolio and innovative products enjoying a high level of market acceptance will enable the Group to consolidate its standing as the world’s second-largest press vendor.
 
‘We’ll continue to exploit the strategic options offered by consolidation in the sector. We have already introduced measures to strengthen our international sales and service network in markets where we see growth potential for KBA.
 
‘We are also vigorously pursuing our strategic goal of expanding our product range for the key Chinese market by acquiring a stake in a domestic manufacturer,’ Bolza-Schünemann said.

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