Komori back in profit as printers invest

Japanese press giant Komori is back in the black, as orders surge from printers around the world looking to upgrade their kit after two years of largely treading water.

Sales for the first half of the company’s financial year rose by 18.4 per cent to ¥40.1bn, (A$500m) while incoming orders were 60 per cent higher compared to the first six months of last year.

The company recorded an operating income of ¥509m (A$60m), compared to a previous operating loss of ¥1.12bn. Its pretax profit was ¥4.4bn (A$55m), compared to a loss of ¥105 million last year, although Komori says this was largely due to the sale of noncurrent assets.

Komori joins the German trio of Heidelberg, manroland and Koenig & Bauer, who are all seeing their order books fill up on the back of post-Covid optimism.

Demand for presses is coming from China, the US and Europe, where incoming orders are up strongly, doubling in China, rising by 58 per cent in Europe, and by 30 per cent in the US.