A weak web press market and subdued demand in sheetfed and special presses has caused Koenig & Bauer (KBA), the world’s second-largest press manufacturer, to scale back its expectations for its financials in 2013.
In the third quarter, the volume of new orders in the KBA Group was up 7.4 percent on the corresponding figure for 2012. For the whole nine months, however, order intake at €709.6 million was 14.1 percent down on the prior-year figure boosted by drupa (€826 million). Additionally, postponed special press shipments led to a 20.3 percent drop in group sales to €729.9 million compared to the previous year (€916.2 million). New orders of web and special presses fell 18.5 percent to €251.1 million, compared to €308.2 million in 2012.
KBA also warned that its continuing restructuring efforts would have a yet unquantifiable negative impact to its year-end financials. KBA’s management says it considers the sales and earnings targets for 2013 announced in March and already subdued in the half-year report in August to be no longer attainable.
“Along with the total group sales to be generated by the end of the year, the product mix delivered as well as the extraordinary expenses for restructuring measures and impairments will have a significant impact on the annual result in the group,” said Dr. Axel Kaufmann, CFO. “Currently this amount is not yet foreseeable, but will lead to a loss in 2013. Excluding special items, we are still targeting a positive operating result and balanced group earnings before taxes (EBT).”
KBA says it aims to compensate at least in part for the loss in business volume in other fields and by expanding its service activities and its product portfolio for growing market segments. Kammann Maschinenbau a profitable niche vendor and global market leader in printing systems for directly decorating glass containers joined the KBA Group in the third quarter. The majority takeover of the Italian press manufacturer Flexotecnica that serves the expanding flexible packaging market will also be completed shortly.
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