Koenig & Bauer looking to the future with confidence and in a strong position after a good first six months in 2021 with improved earnings despite lower revenue

The first half of 2021 went well for the Koenig & Bauer Group (“Koenig & Bauer”) in several respects. Customer orders were up roughly 28% on the same period in the previous year. This performance was particularly underpinned by the increase of around 45% in orders in the Special segment. Orders were up on the previous year in all parts of this segment. In June, Group subsidiary MetalPrint recorded one of the best order intakes in its history. This shows that, after a difficult first half for this segment, the order situation is improving and that the global economic engine is increasingly gaining momentum, allowing Koenig & Bauer to face the future with confidence and in a good position. Order intake was also up in the Sheetfed segment again, rising by around 30%, with the sharply growing and more pandemic-resistant packaging printing market accounting for the bulk of this growth. This enabled us to further expand our position in the market for sheetfed offset presses for packaging printing. The market leadership achieved in 2020 after the substantial increase in market share was particularly gratifying.

Koenig & Bauer’s strategy paying off: in addition to a record order for the company at China Print in Beijing, five CorruCUT presses were successfully marketed in July – further progress being made with the sustainability initiative

Koenig & Bauer also celebrated a number of successes in China – at this year’s China Print in Beijing at the end of June a new record was set for this trade fair in terms of the number of orders received. At the core of the presentation was the world premiere of the new Rapida 105 generation. The large-format Rapida 145 and Rapida 164 sheetfed offset presses were also in high demand, reflecting the particular need for high-quality packaging, particularly for mobile telephones and consumer electronics. All told, this shows that customers’ spending reticence is beginning to dissipate in many areas. Nevertheless, some new investments are being postponed due to the uncertainty surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first half of 2021, this mainly concerned incoming orders in digital decor and corrugated printing. However, as of the end of July 2021, a total of five machines from the CorruCUT series had been successfully marketed to beta customers as well as new customers. As Dr Andreas Pleßke, the CEO of Koenig & Bauer AG, explains: “Our customers’ decisions also show that we have done very good work in recent years and that our focus on growth markets such as conventional and digital packaging printing is paying off. We expect to place incoming orders on our books in the third quarter of 2021, with production of the new presses to commence next year. This makes it clear that the end markets that we address and particularly also the structurally growing packaging printing segment are fundamentally intact. Accordingly, we still see our proven broad product range as appropriate for achieving our goals.” Pleßke adds: “In addition, sustainability is gaining momentum as a cross-cutting issue for both customers and the Company. This is why we are very proud to be the first press manufacturer to join the “Healthy Printing Initiative” and to be confirmed as a member of the “Holy Grail 2.0” project, thus further expanding our commitment to sustainable corporate development.” You can find out more about Koenig & Bauer’s sustainability initiative in the report on the first half of 2021.