KBA reports first profit of 2009

However, group sales were down from EUR 1.075bn in the third quarter of 2008, to EUR 737.3m this year. Sheetfed machinery sales grew compared with previous quarters in 2008 to EUR 318.8m, but were down 36% on the same quarter last year.

Sales of web and special presses fell from EUR 575.4m to EUR 418.5m; while group order backlogs were EUR 446.5m in the third quarter, down from EUR 721.6m a year earlier.

KBA’s export business was adversely affected by the effects of the global recession on certain markets. However, the company said that “plunging demand in Europe and the USA was partially alleviated by brisk sales in China, the Middle East, Latin America and other markets”.

While European exports fell from 52.3% of total group sales to 34.8%, buoyant demand from China helped boost exports to the Asia Pacific region from 19.1% to 23.5%.

KBA’s cost-cutting measures had enabled it to save more than EUR 80m by the end of September, the company said.

The EUR 9.6m profit for Q3 compares with pre-tax losses in Q1 and Q2 of EUR 35.2m and 12.2m respectively.

In a letter to shareholders, KBA president and chief executive Helge Hansen said that group sales were unlikely to exceed the EUR 1.1bn mark in 2009 and would be a “good 25% below the prior-year figure of EUR 1.53bn”, due to an “unexpectedly weak inflow of orders for multi-unit web presses”.

He added: “If the fourth quarter proves disappointing and we post a negative result for the year, it will be in the low single-digit million euro range and would still represent a notable achievement compared to the performance of other players in the sector.”

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