KBA follows Heidelberg in posting improved results

In the third quarter results the company claims new orders were up 21.7 per cent (€1,040.1m) , sales up 16.8 per cent (to €944.5m )and has posted its first pre-tax quarterly profit since 2002.

Alongside the persistent pressure on prices, revenue losses from below-target sales and spiralling costs for raw materials are a squeeze on earnings. Nevertheless, the management stands by its declared annual group sales target for 2004 of €1.4bn – the highest in KBA's 187-year history – and a pre-tax profit.

Moving to maximise the leverage provided by the tough conditions management says that longer and more flexible working hours for the work force are indispensable. With the addition of 294 employees through the acquisition of Metronic AG, the group payroll on 30 September totalled 7,360, up 75 from 7,285 a year before. Discounting the new subsidiary, the workforce was reduced by 219. As already previously announced, the Berlin assembly plant (KBA-Berlin GmbH) with 68 staff will close down at the end of the year.

Orders for sheetfed offset presses rose 18.5 per cent to €571.6m. Sales, at €464m, remained short of the ambitious target figures for the year, but were still up 9.8 per cent on the prior year level (€422.5m). Further contracts for publication rotogravure, security and newspaper presses enabled the web and special presses division to boost orders received by 25.9 per cent to €468.5m.

In its press release KBA said that although the investment climate in the international printing industry has revived somewhat in the past twelve months, the management at KBA still sees striking differences between the individual sectors and regions. The upturn to date has been too modest and has remained insufficiently stable to fill the additional production capacity built up in the press manufacturing industry during the boom years.

It said the pricing competition is typical of a buyer's market, which combined with the soaring costs of energy and steel, and the strong euro are significant burdens for business.