KBA reports increased demand for sheetfed and web presses

At the 85th annual shareholders’ meeting of press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) in Würzburg, president and CEO Helge Hansen reported that demand for both sheetfed and web presses had picked up strongly since March. According to preliminary figures, the order intake of 500m euros for the first five months of the current business year was almost 23 percent up on the prior-year figure. Since January 1 the order backlog has increased by 160m euros to almost 500m euros. 

After five months, KBA’s sales of 332m euros fell short of group targets, but this is par for the course in the engineering sector, says the company, and Hansen is confident that lost ground can be regained in the second half of the year. Despite a reduction in capacity over the past twelve months, KBA is aiming for a modest lift in sales from 1.05bn euros in 2009 to just over 1.1bn euros.  

Hansen said he was pleased with attendance figures and the investment climate at the Ipex international trade fair in Birmingham, UK, and at the CHIPF packaging exhibition in Beijing, China. Most of the contracts sealed at these two shows were for sheetfed presses. So far this year KBA has sold 20 large-format presses to book and packaging printers in China.  

Referring to the group’s intention, expressed last year, of entering a new line of business, Hansen reported that print-related packaging technology and digital print have the greatest appeal for KBA: ’Having made some promising contacts in these two fields and shortlisted a number of projects, we are now screening potential acquisitions or alliances. I am confident that we shall soon be able to reveal further details.’ 

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