Koenig & Bauer is happy that preliminary figures for 2024 show the business on course to increase profits for the current financial even if sales are not expected to increase greatly.
A strong final three months has left the press manufacturer with a record backlog in orders, no drop off in post Drupa sheetfed sales although the two-piece can project has been canned because it failed to achieve set milestones. This came under the Spotlight reorganisation project which over ran anticipated costs for the year of €30-45 million to reach €50 million.
The corrugated board market, where orders have been stalled due to a spate of mergers across the supply side, has not fully recovered. And while end of year revenues of €157.8 million were 8.4% behind 2024, this is a reflection on a bumper fourth quarter to end 2023.
Corrugated falls into the digital and webfed segment which continues to cause concern as the operating Ebit for the segment was €-25.5 million after adjusting for Drupa costs. In comparison the Edit for the sheetfed sector, K&B’s largest was €24.3 million and for the special segment (including security presses) was €10.7 million after allowing for their sales of the €10.5 million cost of Drupa.
Order intake in sheetfed was up 20.8% during the year to €732,5 million thanks to an unexpectedly strong final quarter when rather than fading in the shadow of Drupa, orders more than held up.
At the end of the year, the company posted an order backlog of €1,039.8 million (€911.5 million), its highest in recent years, having received orders of €1,402.7 million (€1,287.9 million) during the year. The unaudited revenue figure for the year was €1,274.4 million (€1.326.8 million), generating an overall Ebit of €25.8 million.
CEO Andreas Pleßke comments that the pivot towards packaging is paying off as these are less volatile markets and less affected by geopolitical challenges. “Packaging of all kinds is always needed, especially in the food, pharmaceutical, beverage and consumer goods markets.” he says.
The company will incur further expenses under the Spotlight programme in the first part of this year, though “in the low single digital million euros range” as the work to boost the profitability of the banknote business and to rectify what is an “ongoing loss situation in Digital & Webfed” continues.
CFO Stephen Kimmich says: “Our priority is to operate profitably in every area. We do not build machines for the sake of building machines – what doesn’t achieve the desired success, we consistently discontinue.”
