KOENIG & BAUER POSTS UPBEAT FIGURES

By Wayne Robinson | 21 April 2023

Press manufacturing giant Koenig & Bauer is targeting further growth this year, following a 6.3 per cent rise in group revenue to €1.186bn for 2022, with sheetfed revenues up by 5 per cent.

A special unboxing experience: Koenig & Bauer chose a sustainable shipping bag made of FSC-certified recycled cardboard. Its financial calendar has been produced interactively and sustainably on a metal card. Its new reporting approach comprises modular, digital and sustainable elements and substrates, in line with the three pillars of its Exceeding Print corporate strategy.

Its EBIT of €22m exceeded the forecast range of €15m-€20m, and although it was down on last year, the company said this was because of the 2021 P24x efficiency and restructuring programme, and said underlying profitability was “substantially” improving.

Order intake by the end of the year was up by 3 per cent on the previous year at €1.329bn, while the order backlog was €950.4m.

Dr Andreas Pleßke, CEO or Konig & Bauer, said, “Our performance last year shows that we are headed in the right direction for sustainable growth. We were able to post increases in all key performance indicators.”

The Sheetfed division had revenues of €672.2m, up from €642.4m in 2021. EBIT was €19m, down from the €24m last year. Special presses had sales of €417.1m, up from €390.2m in the prior year, with EBIT of €23.2m, down from €34.9m last year, while Digital & Webfed saw revenue up by 15 per cent, reaching €139.8m, and halved its EBIT losses to €19.3m.

For the current year Koenig & Bauer forecasts group revenue of around €1.3bn, accompanied by an EBIT margin of around 3 per cent. It says the Digital & Web division will make a significant contribution to EBIT and revenue growth.

Physical copies of the group’s annual reports were printed on a digital inkjet RotoJet for the first time, with a unique front page image on each one.