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Koenig & Bauer AG (Other OTC:KOEBF) Koenig & Bauer AG / Miscellaneous business figures / Koenig & Bauer AG: Drupa sales boost in second half-year Ad hoc announcement according to §15 WpHG processed and transmitted by Hugin ASA. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------
At the 83rd AGM of German press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA), group president and CEO Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann reveals that Drupa, a 14-day print media trade fair recently held in Düsseldorf, had brought in orders worth more than EUR 200m, surpassing the figure for the previous Drupa in 2004. The surge in orders booked at Drupa, along with anticipated post-Drupa business, will substantially improve capacity utilisation and sales at KBA's sheetfed production plants. Major web press contracts booked at the turn of the year, and a brisk inflow of orders over the past few months, will keep the group's web press facilities busy until the end of the year and materially boost sales in the third and fourth quarters. Following the divestment of KBA's rotogravure business in September 2007, an agreement has now been reached with staff representatives on personnel reductions at the relevant plants. In addition to natural attrition, which has already trimmed the payroll by 180, and other measures such as phased retirement, there will be around 100 redundancies at KBA's Frankenthal operation. While sales of metal-decorating presses and at subsidiary KBA-Metronic were on target at the end of May, the figures for security presses failed to equal the prior year's high level.
Bolza-Schünemann admitts that, with sales and profits flagging in the first five months, his EUR 1.6bn end-of-March sales prognosis for 2008 represents something of a sporting challenge. However, in view of the major boost expected in the second half-year, he believes this to be a realistic figure. Notwithstanding the risks associated with market activities, currency exchange and the financial crisis, KBA is aiming for a pre-tax profit roughly on a par with 2007 (EUR 63.2m), following a big increase in shipments in the third and fourth quarters.
To stabilise earnings, diversify risk and reduce the group's dependence on more volatile print markets, Bolza-Schünemann states that KBA will continue to pursue its successful strategy of driving growth in niche print markets and is on the watch for opportunities to diversify through judicious acquisitions, and in addition to stepping up its service and consultancy activities does not exclude a move into consumables or non-print sectors such as environmental technology or other high-growth engineering applications. The group has already acquired expertise and patents on air purification through its Stuttgart subsidiary, KBA-MetalPrint.
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Koenig & Bauer AG Friedrich-Koenig-Straße 4 Würzburg Germany
WKN: 719350; ISIN: DE0007193500; Index: SDAX; Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse, Geregelter Markt in Bayerische Börse München, Freiverkehr in Börse Stuttgart, Freiverkehr in Hanseatische Wertpapierbörse zu Hamburg, Freiverkehr in Börse Berlin, Prime Standard in Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse, Freiverkehr in Börse Düsseldorf;
