Koenig & Bauer Exceeds Forecast

Koenig & Bauer has reported that, based on its preliminary and as yet unaudited figures, group EBIT for 2022 has exceeded its own forecast, as well as market expectations. This was in spite of a challenging environment characterised by supply chain constraints and an associated increase in material and energy costs, and a loss in one of its main divisions – the Digital and Webfed segment.

Sales were €1.186 billion, up 6.3% compared with 2021. EBIT of €22 million was above the company’s forecast of €15-20 million, but down by 22.8% compared with the previous year (albeit the 2021 figure was inflated due to restructuring adjustments). Following a ‘moderate’ start to the year, sales increased throughout the course of the year with a return to robust order intake level in the final quarter. It is forecasting €1.3 billion in sales for 2023.

Koenig & Bauer Banknote Solutions (KBBNS) forms part of the Special segment, which also covers glass decoration, coding and metal printing. The segment had sales of €417 million in 2022, versus €390 million the previous year, achieving EBIT of €23.2 million (versus €34.9 million in 2021). Banknote Solutions sales were €150.7 million, accounting for 12.7% of group sales.

Highlights of the year included the delivery of 448 intaglio plates by the pre-press department and 31 machines to clients’ printing facilities. It completed the installation of all its equipment in the Central Bank of Egypts’ new printworks, and launched a new Consultancy Solutions business, with services including equipment handling, organisational structuring, and layout planning for optimised production flows. It also completed 55 design and security document projects, compared to 41 in 2021.

It has been working hard on its environmental footprint, and has recently completed an redesign of its assembly center in Mödling, Austria to optimise the material supply process and achieve significant improvements in efficiency, energy consumption, and environmental sustainability.

In a related development, it entered into a new partnership with Austrian-based Membraflow Control Systems to expand its range of solutions for dealing with wiping solution from the intaglio printing process.

More details of both will be provided in next month’s issue of Currency News™.