German press giant Koenig and Bauer has enjoyed a 4.3 percent increase in revenue over 2016, with new orders up 10.1 percent.
The manufacturer raked in €1,217.6 million ($1,950.1 million AUD) last year, driven by strong revenue and earnings in the fourth quarter, and widened its market share in all business fields.
Koenig and Bauer credited cardboard printing, metal, glass and hollow container decorating and coding as growth areas for the company, as well as new products including rotary and flatbed die cutters. “In addition to the market success of the rotary die-cutter, the sharp rise in new contracts for flatbed die-cutters over the previous year exceeded our expectations substantially,” said Claus Bolza-Schünemann, CEO.
Sheetfed was a particular bright spot, with orders climbing 15.2 percent and revenue up 7.3 percent over 2016, driven by the packaging industry. Bolza-Schünemann indicated Koenig and Bauer would continue to develop new solutions for the packaging sector into the future. "We have already started marketing the sheetfed flexo presses CorruFLEX and CorruCUT (with an integrated rotary die-cutter), both of which have been developed with a number of unique features. In early 2019 we will be installing a CorruCUT system at the pilot customer Klingele," he said.
Digital and web dropped, however, with newspaper and commercial web press orders continuing to decline. R&D expenses, as well as optimisation efforts for flexibles, hit segment earnings; however, Mathias Dähn, CFO, is confident of a turnaround. "With the measures taken in flexible packaging printing, a turnaround is apparent, although it will be important to continue to take the right actions to close the gap between our company and the successful leaders of this attractive market," he said.