Koenig & Bauer is targeting group revenue of around €1.5bn with EBIT margin of between 7% and 10% until 2023

With the progress achieved in the structurally growing and less cyclical packaging printing, the Koenig & Bauer group made further advances in its strategically aligning towards sustainable profitable growth. CEO Claus Bolza-Schünemann: “Driven by a record order intake, we have been able to widen our share of the global flexible packaging printing market to 9%. Revenue in marking and coding has risen by around 50% in the last three years. Since the acquisition of flatbed die-cutter business in 2016, revenue in this business field has climbed by more than 50%. The entry into the market for folder gluers and the planned joint venture with inkjet pioneer Durst for folding carton and corrugated printing are further milestones.” CFO Mathias Dähn: “Pleasing revenue and earnings potential can arise with our RotaJET digital printing platform for decor and flexible packaging printing following a greater substitution of the hitherto standard analogue printing processes and an increase in the internally-sourced production of decoration papers in the furniture and flooring industry. After a comprehensive evaluation process, the renowned packaging group Tetra Pak has opted for our large-format RotaJET for full-colour digital printing of beverage carton packaging. We have received two more RotaJET orders for digital decor printing.”

The service revenue share increased in the group to 25.9% in 2018 (1)

Earnings target for 2018 well achieved

Group EBIT climbed from €81.4m in the previous year to €87.4m despite some adverse circumstances in the availability of parts and market conditions. With the increase in its EBIT margin from 6.7% to 7.1%, Koenig & Bauer achieved the target defined for 2018 of around 7%. CFO Mathias Dähn: “On the basis of an EBIT margin adjusted for special items of 5.4% in 2016, we are aiming for an annual improvement of 0.7% in this margin to around 9% by 2021 assuming linear execution of the group projects for boosting earnings by €70m. This translates into a target of 6.8% for 2018, which we exceeded substantially with a margin of 7.1%.”

High order backlog

The previously announced shifts of machine deliveries into 2019 as a result of bottlenecks in the parts availability burdened the achievement of our revenue target. At €1,226m, group revenue was only slightly up on the previous year of €1,217.6m. Koenig & Bauer had been targeting organic revenue growth of around 4% for 2018. With order intake coming to €1,222m (previous year: €1,266.3m), order backlog rose to €610.9m (previous year: €606.2m).