Product category:
Printing Presses and Machinery (New and Used, Service and Repair)
News Release from: KBA
Edited by the Printingtalk Editorial
Team on 15 August 2005
Confidence Grows As KBA Turns In 1.2m
Euro Profit
KBA has turned a 4.2m Euro operating loss in the first quarter of the financial year in to a 1.2m Euro profit for the second quarter.
KBA has turned a 4.2m Euro operating loss in the first quarter of the financial year in to a 1.2m Euro profit for the second quarter The performance has been achieved on the back of new orders, which incressed by 17.7 per cent and because sales were up by 29.2 per cent
This article was originally published on Printingtalk on 9 Feb 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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KBA has reported an upturn in its domestic market and the current levels of business have encouraged the company to maintain is annual target.
That means with earnings expected to receive a major boost from higher sales and a more profitable product mix in the second half of the financial year, the 1.5b Euro sales target remains in place.
And despite the half-year loss announced at the annual general meeting in June, the group stands by its goal for 2005 of a higher pre-tax profit than in 2004, which was 15.9m Euros.
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Overall, a financial loss of 5.7m Euros translated in to a pre-tax loss of 4.5m Euros, which was substantially lower than a year earlier, when the loss stood at 18.5m Euros.
The net loss, including deferred taxes, was 5m Euros (compared to a 16.5m Euro loss in 2004) which corresponds to a proportionate net loss per share of 31 cents (a 1.02 Euro loss in 2004).
According to KBA president and chief executive officer Albrecht Bolza-Schunemann the loss was primarily due to currency losses, higher prices for commodities and energy, below-target sales and the additional cost of getting a new generation of sheetfed presses up and running.
Group order intake was 860.9m Euros, compared to 731.6m Euros last year, for the first six months, despite the absence of any exceptional stimulus like last year's Drupa trade fair.
Both divisions of the company achieved strong growth, with new orders for sheetfed offset presses up 12.3 per cent at 479.1m Euros and for web and special presses up 25.2 per cent at 381.8m Euros compared to the same period in 2004.
Group sales totalled 691m Euros, 29.2 per cent above the prior-year figure of 534.9m Euros.
The 1,062.9m Euro order backlog was also higher (it was 1,053.6m Euros for the same period in 2004) and the company believes that safeguards production until well in to next year.
An upturn in the German advertising and print markets boosted deliveries of sheetfed, commercial, newspaper and publication rotogravure presses, driving domestic sales up to 136.5m Euros, a 78.2 per cent improvement on the prior year's figure of 76.6m Euros.
As a result, the export level eased back from the 85 per cent level of recent years to 80.2 per cent, closer to its historic average.
Whilst sales to the rest of Europe climbed 20.5 per cent to 323.9m Euros, in North America they surged 74 per cent to 101.9m Euros.
However, Asia-Pacific sales slid to 97.4m Euros (110.8m Euros in 2004).
The rest of Europe remained the biggest market for KBA products, contributing just under 47 per cent to total group sales, followed by domestic sales.
After a lapse of a few years, North America moved back in to third place with 14.7 per cent, ahead of Asia and the Pacific (14.1 per cent).
KBA believes that will only be temporary, since buoyant demand for sheetfed presses in China and scheduled shipments of web and security presses to the Far East, are set to generate a higher volume of sales in the near future.
KBA's sheetfed offset division maintained the rapid growth of the past 12 years to secure second place amongst German manufacturers in what is the biggest sector of the press market.
That was reflected in the geographical breakdown of the group payroll, with the sheetfed facility in Radebeul (near Dresden) hiring 158 additional staff whilst KBA's west German web press plants laid off 160 people.
At the end of June there were 7,776 employees on the group payroll, 489 more than at the same time the previous year.
The consolidation of metal-decorating press manufacturer Bauer and Kunzi in Ditzingen, near Stuttgart, at the beginning of the year and of Czech sheetfed press manufacturer KBA-Grafitec in Dobruska, near Hradec Kralove in March increased the payroll by 53 and 418 respectively.
Excluding those additions the total number of employees rose by 18.
Cash flows from operating activities at 30 June totalled 66.6m Euros, well above the previous corresponding period (8.1m Euros in 2004) whilst the free cash flow swelled to 56.5m Euros. Request free introductory details about products from KBA ...
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