KBA remains positive for 2013 despite Q1 decline

Koenig & Bauer (KBA), the world’s second biggest press manufacturer, remains confident that it will achieve its goals for 2013, despite recording a decline in the first quarter of 2013.

 

The company’s management board believes its targets for 2013 remain realistic, with similar sales to 2012, which totalled €1.3 billion. This is despite a difficult first quarter in 2013, including a 15.5 percent fall in new orders and a drop in group sales. It said this was due to customers postponing shipments and more deliveries being planned for the second half of the year.

 

New orders for web and special presses were down as contract conclusions were postponed and the volume of unfulfilled orders stood at €449.5 million. Fluctuations in the project business contributed to sales of web and special presses falling by 40 percent in Q1.

 

Sheet-fed segment new orders were also down year-on-year, with the 2012 result boosted by a “very successful” pre-Drupa event. Revenue was stable, but unfulfilled orders for sheet-fed presses rose 3.4 percent in Q1. Cost-saving and efficiency initiatives means the operating loss of €5.9 million was an improvement on the loss of €13.3 million record in Q1 2012.

 

Overall order backlog was down by 17.7 percent year-on-year in Q1.

 

KBA’s export ratio also fell back to 71.2 percent in Q1 2013 versus 89.2 percent in 2012, as domestic sales doubled due to a rise in web and sheet-fed offset press deliveries. The ratio is expected to return to normal levels of around 80 percent in the coming quarters.  

 

The management board’s assertion that tits 2013 targets remain realistic are based on the expected boost from China Print, taking place this week in Shanghai, and new orders for web and special presses in the second and third quarters.

 

KBA vice-president and chief financial officer Dr Axel Kaufmann said: ‘The ongoing turn-around programme in place until the end of 2014 in the competitive sheet-fed and web offset business should noticeably improve earnings. Along with the continuing realignment of production capacity and amendments to wage agreements effective since the beginning of the year, there are also cost-saving measures in place in group purchasing and administration.’

 

President and chief executive officer Claus Bolza-Schünemann added: ‘With the digital KBA RotaJET 76 (pictured, top) and the expansion of our product range for packaging with own products as well as the planned takeover of Italian manufacturer Flexotecnica, we aim to compensate for the smaller market for traditional sheet-fed and web offset presses with growing print markets.

 

‘This strategy demands time and appropriate investment which thanks to KBA’s solid financial profile can be realised with our own means. In 2013 the new market segments will only make a limited contribution to group sales and earnings, however this should change in the mid-term.’

 

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