A slump in sales in 2018, and a thin order book for the new year, is sending manroland sheetfed owner Tony Langley seeking bolt on acquisitions that can use the manufacturing facilities in the main Offenbach plant.
Commenting on the just released 2018 report Langley said the Offenbach plant was 'significantly under utilised' during 2018, as sales fell by 9.3 per cent to €259.8m. The year started brightly for the press giant, but orders went on to 'plummet' during the rest of the year. The forward order book for 2019 is showing no signs of improvement.
Langley is sitting on a cash pile of €379.5m, has no debt, and has access to more funds, leaving him in a strong position to buy. He spent six months of last year pursuing one unnamed business, but ultimately failed to get over the line.
Langley blamed the ongoing trade dispute between the US and China for the slowdown in sales, China is the company's biggest market, Langley said business over there including printers were adopting a wait and see policy before investing in non-Chinese equipment. Langley said the trade dispute was not restricted to hampering investment by Chinese printers, but was having effects in many other countries.
Nonetheless manroland is still the biggest part of the Langley portfolio, although its contribution to profit was 'nominal'. Langley said the company had stood on its own feet since he bought it, and reiterated that his initial investment has been recouped. During the year the company manufactured and shipped the 1000th B1 R700 Evolution unit, which has been developed under Langley's ownership.
Langley bought manroland sheetfed when the original manroland went broke in 2012 and was split in two, the web side being bought by German industrial conglomerate Possehl. The webfed arm is now manrolandGoss having bought its US rival last year, and dominates the heatset web market.
Langley's sheetfed division by contrast is a fraction of the size it once was, and concentrates on supplying and servicing its existing customers rather than seeking new ones. In Australia it is a major player in the sheetfed packaging printing market.