Despite difficult conditions, Koenig & Bauer reports a good order situation for the 2021 financial year. Customers ordered around a third more presses and service solutions than in the previous year. Order intake and revenue were therefore better than the industry average. The forecast for 2022 is made more difficult by current uncertainties.
The Koenig & Bauer Group improved significantly in the 2021 financial year compared to the previous year despite challenging conditions such as supply bottlenecks and the associated increases in material and energy prices as well as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. According to the company, this result was due to In addition to the P24x efficiency programme, the product and solution portfolio made a significant contributionKoenig & Bauer masters all industrial printing processes on almost all substrates - including corrugated board - and supplies software, systems and services for complete printing and finishing processes.
It is primarily aimed at the structurally growing market for packaging, which is not only proving resistant to the pandemic, but also offers growth opportunities, e.g. through the growing e-commerce business or the increasing demand for standard household food packaging.
At the end of December 2021, Koenig & Bauer had a high order backlog of €806.8m, also compared to previous years, as customers ordered a total of 32.4% more presses and service solutions than in the previous year. Turnover rose by a total of 8.5 per cent to €1,115.8m. Koenig & Bauer was thus able to exceed the industry average for incoming orders and sales in the printing machinery sector. This also applies in particular to the fourth quarter, which was comparatively weak on average for the sector due to the tense procurement environment.
"2021 was both a positive and challenging year for Koenig & Bauer - but together we managed to achieve our annual revenue forecast and exceed the EBIT forecast. Despite all the necessary vigilance in the still very uncertain economic environment, we see this as a sign that we have done a very good job in recent years and that our focus on growth markets such as conventional and digital packaging printing is paying off." Dr Andreas PleßkeSpokesman of the Koenig & Bauer Management Board
Five machines from the Corrucut series were successfully marketed in the Digital & Webfed segment. The machines are designed for the production of rotary die-cut boxes made of corrugated cardboard with high flexo post-print quality. A further breakthrough was achieved in the fourth quarter with the Sale of two high-performance digital printing machines for the packaging market achieved. The RotaJET can be used to digitally print on a wide range of substrates, from thin paper to solid board. This emphasises the versatility of the RotaJET, which has so far been particularly successful in the decor sector, now also arrived in the packaging market.
Further progress was made in digital printing in the Sheetfed segment. with the world premiere of the VariJET 106 from Koenig & Bauer Durst in mid-October. It combines digital printing with tried-and-tested modules from the Rapida platform and has been especially for automated, efficient, food-compliant printing systems and offers the shortest set-up times, a wide range of variants and individualisation and enables efficient printing of short runs.
The year 2022 will also be characterised by change. Be it with regard to the as yet unforeseeable consequences of the war in Ukraine and the resulting sanctions against Russia and Belarus, the unforeseeable end of the Covid-19 pandemic and a persistently challenging procurement environment. Koenig & Bauer therefore expects a slight year-on-year increase in consolidated operating revenue and the operating EBIT margin for the 2022 financial year. At the time of finalising the consolidated financial statements a reliable estimate of the extent of the aforementioned risks is still not possible due to the associated high level of uncertaintyto make a concrete statement on future developments for 2022.
Source: Koenig & Bauer
