Koenig & Bauer held its 100th Annual General Meeting at the Vogel Convention Centre in Würzburg. Around 70 per cent of the share capital was represented. The focus was on the change of leadership at the top of the company, strategic realignment and technological innovations - above all in the field of artificial intelligence (AI).
At the end of the Annual General Meeting, Dr Andreas Pleßke handed over the chairmanship of the Executive Board to Dr Stephen Kimmich. Pleßke will remain active in the company for special tasks until his retirement at the end of 2025. The Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Prof Dr Raimund Klinkner, spoke of a successful and seamless transition. At the same time, Dr Alexander Blum was announced as the new Chief Financial Officer from July 2025.
Strategic focus on profitability and digitalisation
Dr Kimmich defined five strategic priorities for the next „performance phase“:
- Focus on go-to-market strategies
- Strengthening competitiveness and resilience
- Expansion of AI expertise
- Further development of the customer-first approach
- Optimisation of net working capital (below 25 % of annual sales for the first time)
Koenig & Bauer is pursuing a consistent transformation with market and customer proximity through two clearly structured corporate segments.
Use of artificial intelligence and connected packaging
As part of the event, Koenig & Bauer demonstrated innovative AI applications, including an AI-generated avatar by Andreas Pleßke. The showroom presented pioneering solutions in the field of „connected packaging“, in which packaging is linked to digital information. Consumers can use digital content seamlessly through simple smartphone interaction - without physically changing the packaging.
Supervisory Board election and resolutions
Karoline Kalb was elected to the Supervisory Board as the successor to Prof Dr Gisela Lanza. The latter was honoured for her strategic work. All items on the agenda, including remuneration reports, virtual Annual General Meetings and the election of PwC as auditor, were approved by a large majority.
Source: Koenig & Bauer
