The volume of new orders booked by German press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) in the first five months of the current business year was 15 per cent higher than in the same period the previous year. But as president and CEO Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann was quick to point out at the group’s packed AGM, margins continue to be squeezed by downward pressures on selling prices and upward pressures on purchasing costs. And as the president said in the current market environment it is almost impossible to pass on higher utility costs to consumers. Fluctuations in the exchange rates for the Euro, US dollar and Yen are also impacting on the group’s export-intensive business. Group sales in the first six months, though up on the relatively weak figure for 2004, will fall short of the Euro1.5bn target for 2005 (2004: Euro1.42bn). KBA anticipates a pre-tax loss for the first half-year, figures for which will be released on August 12. However, Bolza-Schünemann stated that the group is on course to post a higher annual pre-tax profit than in 2004 (Euro15.9m). Alongside stronger sales this will largely be driven by a higher output and a more profitable product mix in the second half-year.
Reporting on KBA’s diverse business activities, Bolza-Schünemann revealed that continuous dynamic growth by the sheetfed offset division in Radebeul, near Dresden, since 1993 has moved the group up into second place behind Heidelberg in the German press manufacturing league. KBA is also a major global player in other key markets, eg for newspaper, publication gravure and security presses. But for Bolza-Schünemann the group’s greatest achievement in 2004 was a return to profit by its web and special press division – an achievement that would have been nigh on impossible without some radical remedial action which included the closure of assembly plants in Berlin and Kusel.
