Koenig & Bauer sharpens sustainability focus

Press giant Koenig & Bauer is establishing a dedicated sustainability department, which it says is immensely important for the future development of the company.

The company has also appointed a new head of investor relations, Lena Landenberger, who had previously worked in a similar role with arch-rival Heidelberg.

The new sustainability focus will work on five pillars: employees (social responsibility); environment (ecological responsibility); governance; society and outreach; and integrity and compliance.

The concept came from Agenda 2030 of the United Nations, whose 17 Global Goals aim to secure sustainable development on the economic, social and ecological levels. Dr Bernd Heusinger, who has served Koenig & Bauer in various functions since 1999, will be assuming responsibility for the new sustainability remit alongside his current corporate office duties for the supervisory board of Koenig & Bauer.

Lena Landenberger began her career in the auditing division of Ernst & Young. Subsequently, she spent three years at ElringKlinger AG in the department for investor relations, business press and corporate communication. She then moved to Heidelberger Druckmaschinen as investor relations manager in July 2011 and studied for a Master in Business Law (LL.M.) parallel to her work there.

The Koenig & Bauer share price dropped by half from €32 a year ago to €16 in March when Covid hit, where it stayed for most of the year before staging a recovery of sorts over the past month to reach €22 today.

Koenig & Bauer manufactures the world’s broadest range of press technology, from offset presses for commercial and packaging, to newspaper presses, to banknote presses, to its new joint venture with Durst producing digital corrugated presses.