Demand for packaging printing presses is driving surging orders at press manufacturing giant Koenig & Bauer, with the company seeing a 30 per cent uptick in demand for new presses, and expressing its confidence in the global post-Covid recovery.
Orders overall rose by 28 per cent in the first six months of the year, sheetfed orders were up by 30 per cent, with large format packaging printing driving the growth, accounting for 60 per cent of all presses. Orders were attributable to what the company described as the “pandemic-resistant” packaging printing market, specifically folding boxes and labels.
Sheetfed revenue came to €293.3m, matching the previous year’s €295.4m. The order backlog grew by 44.7 per cent to €413.5m. Koenig & Bauer dominates the large format press market in Australia, and the majority of its B1 sales are also in packaging.
At €218.7m, order intake in the Special segment exceeded the previous year’s figure by 45.1 per cent. Orders were up in all areas including security printing, metal packaging; and coding solutions for all industries.
In June, MetalPrint achieved one of the best order intakes in the company’s history, following a difficult first half of 2021. Order backlog increased by 7.9 per cent to €307.5m as of 30 June.
Flexo printing also grew, while digital and web did not meet expectations, “pandemic-related reluctance” blamed by the company.
Sales in the six months to June for the company as a whole slipped by 4.4 per cent to €493.2m, which it blamed on the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, although the order backlog rose by 16 per cent to €754m.
Profit was up in the first six months, with EBIT moving from a €19.8m loss in the same period the prior year, to €6.4m in the black, due to the P24x efficiency programme.
Dr Stephen Kimmich, the CFO of Koenig & Bauer, said: “For 2021 as a whole, we now expect organic growth in Group revenue of 7-10 per cent to €1.1bn - €1.35bn thanks to our strong order books and intake together, with the upgraded forecast of the International Monetary Fun, and our industry association VDMA, for the economy as a whole, as well as underlying sector conditions.”
