Koenig & Bauer’s strong position in large format sheetfed press is paying off as orders for this style of machine from carton and label producers accounted for most a double-digit rise in orders for sheetfed presses in the first three months of the year.
It says that 60% of the €33 million increase in orders for the quarter compared to 2020 came from the packaging sector. Only Manroland Sheetfed offers competition in large format sheetfed presses.
However, continuing headwinds in other areas kept the overall order increase to 5.3%, while sales were down overall by 7.8%. The company sales this compares favourable with a machinery suppliers’ average of 13.8% in decline.
If the company soared on demand from carton producers who have been running at full speed during the pandemic to keep up with demand for packaging, it struggled in the digital and webfed division.
The pandemic has meant continuing postponements in machines for digital decor production, for web offset presses and for corrugated presses. It meant that orders in the quarter were €23.5 million, 46.1% of their level in 2020.
This area is still one that is expected to enjoy substantial growth once the pandemic has eased and producers get to grips with a new reality where ecommerce has increased substantially. There was a growth in sales of flexo presses, but not enough to compensate for the fall in web offset business.
Service contributed 28% of group revenues of €243 million (€264.2 million). This is coming close to the company’s 30% target for revenues earned in this way, though the company is also aware that this may be misleading due to the subdued machinery sales.
The order backlog of €674.5 million is 2.7% below this point last year, but is also 6.7% higher than the order backlog at the close of 2020. In February and March press orders had increased 7.8%.
This provides scope for the company to predict a slight growth in sales for the year with CEO Andreas Pleßke saying that “there are signs our customers’ spending reticence is beginning to dissipate in many areas”.
He continues to preside over the P24X efficiency and cost reduction strategy which has yielded a reduction in losses from €170 million in 2020 to a €8.9 million loss this time.
