The wind is knocked out of Manroland’s sails

The decision by the famously taciturn Tony Langley to place Manroland Sheetfed in an administration process last week will not have been taken lightly. His company Langley Holdings rescued the press manufacturer from a previous administration when nobody else could recognise the potential of the engineering business. Tony Langley could, and by paring away unnecessary costs (which included marketing and participation at international exhibitions) has kept the business going. The strategy was about German engineering quality sold in the BRIC economies, especially the last of these, China. Manroland Sheetfed would not be adrift of its rivals in these emerging markets which continue to focus on the major markets in Europe and North America where their service and support networks are strong and Manroland Sheetfed had cut costs so it did not need to sell as many machines as its rivals.

Langley enjoyed owning a high precision printing press manufacturer alongside the heavy engineering of power generation which does not require such finesse. The Manroland Sheetfed name emblazoned his racing yachts and was mentioned in pretty much every set of financial results, and not just because it had been the company’s largest acquisition and continued to be the biggest business in the group for some time. But no more. In the last couple of years the strategy has fallen apart, the key Chinese market is 40% down on previous levels. Hence there has been a renewed attention and marketing on its traditional markets in Europe and North America.

In reality however, this has come too late. A read through the financials in recent years shows a declining revenue since Covid, but more importantly shows that in every year sales have fallen short of projections. This must have wreaked havoc with budgeting for the business and must raise questions about the processes that produced such optimistic and inaccurate forecasts. Now with a loss of €40 million in 2025, which is clearly not a one-off, the company, which has never previously closed a business, has had to act. It may be that heavy restructuring will come up with a solution and that a much smaller Manroland business will continue, perhaps as a contract manufacturer or under non European ownership. This will not be fast process, there is much to unwind and solid technology underpinning the business, leading the administration to voice some optimism. This will be one prediction which needs to be accurate.