Offset orders on the rise for KBA and Heidelberg

German press manufacturers, KBA and Heidelberg get back on track with increase in orders.

The positive development in Heidelberg’s operational business continued in the first six months of the financial year 2010/11. In the second quarter (July 1 to September 30, 2010) both incoming orders and sales were significantly up on the previous year. ??Incoming orders for the second quarter of financial year 2010/2011 improved from EUR 534 million the previous year to EUR 650 million. This was partly due to positive exchange rate effects amounting to some EUR 39 million.

For the current financial year 2010/2011, Heidelberg is still expecting to see a modest growth in sales. The result of operating activities will benefit from increasing profit contributions and the savings achieved so far. Heidelberg is looking to achieve a break-even operating result in the current financial year, provided the economic situation remains stable.

"The continuing economic recovery made our customers more willing to invest in the first half-year, but developments varied greatly from region to region. While Asia, Latin America, and Europe are all seeing growth, there is still no significant recovery in evidence on the key U.S. market," said Heidelberg Group CEO, Bernhard Schreier (pictured).

"The positive development in operational business in the first half-year shows that we are on the right track with our strategic realignment. This confirms our forecast for the year as a whole."

It was also good news for KBA, whose third quarter figures saw an order intake jump by 46.7 per cent to €1,001.2m (2009: €682.3m), enabling it to further expand its share of the sheetfed and newspaper market. Group sales also rose by 4.7 per cent to €772.1m (2009: €737.3m).

KBA president, Helge Hansen, believes the results puts the company in a strong position. “I am confident that the scheduled rise in fourth-quarter sales will enable us to boost the year-end total by around seven per cent to achieve our goal of €1.1bn-plus,” he said. “On current readings, our pre-tax profit will also be appreciably higher than in 2009 (€2.7m). If this is confirmed at the end of December, we shall consider paying a dividend again after a two-year hiatus.”

KBA is still pursuing its goal of engaging in a new field of operation alongside its core business of press technology. “Unfortunately this is taking far longer than I originally expected and predicted. Not every project that at first glance appeared promising and relatively quick to implement could withstand closer scrutiny,” Hansen said.