Koenig & Bauer continues on the path to recovery during the first nine months with a strong third quarter 2021
News General news
Order intake up 56.2% in Q3: significant increase in the Special and Sheetfed segments as well as preliminary signs of a recovery in Digital & Webfed
- Revenue up 18.2% in Q3 with a book-to-bill ratio of 1.24 and a historically high order backlog of €823.2m
- Another strategic milestone reached: world premiere of the VariJET digital press following the already successful market launch of the CorruCUT and RotaJET
- P24x efficiency programme reaches planned savings target for 2021 after nine months, underpinning the increase in EBIT to €10.3m in Q3
- Increase of €76.4m in free cash flow to €14.3m, taking Koenig & Bauer back to its pre-pandemic net financial position
- Forecast for 2021: 2% EBIT margin on revenue of €1,100 – 1,135m and medium-term targets confirmed
The Koenig & Bauer Group (“Koenig & Bauer”) remained on track for a recovery in its business in the first nine months of 2021. Customer orders rose by 37.3% to €978.6m during this period. This performance was particularly underpinned by the increase of around 54.0% in the Special segment. Orders were up on the previous year in all parts of this segment, especially driven by securities business. This shows that the banknote has retained its rightful place as a means of payment, especially in the pandemic, and will also remain relevant in the virtual world. Order intake was also up in the Sheetfed segment again, rising by 35.5%, with the sharply expansionary and more pandemic-resistant packaging printing market accounting for the bulk of this growth. This shows that our customers’ spending reticence is beginning to fade in many areas. Nevertheless, some new investments are being postponed due to the uncertainty surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first nine months of 2021, this mainly relates to order intake in the Digital & Webfed segment, although there were tentative signs of a recovery in incoming orders in the third quarter, as a total of five CorruCUT presses were successfully marketed to beta and new customers as of the end of July 2021. The presses are designed for highly efficient production of rotary die-cut boxes made of corrugated board with the highest flexo postprint quality.
All told, customer orders rose by 56.2% year-on-year in the third quarter, thus outpacing the sector average (June – August: 39.8%).
