KBA targets double digit growth for 2016 post strong third quarter results

The company recorded €869.8m at the end of the first nine months, the group order intake was 1.2% higher than in the strong previous year. New orders exceeded group revenue, which rose by 22.3% to €831.4m, by more than €38m.

The order backlog was valued at €613.3m at the end of September, up 2.7% on the previous year, and is sufficient to ensure the capacity utilisation of the group’s plants until spring 2017.

“With underlying economic and political conditions still challenging, our heightened focus on the growth markets of packaging and digital printing as well as service business is paying off. Even more encouraging than the substantial revenue growth is the sizeable increase in earnings for the period under review underpinned by the high profit generated in the third quarter. With operating earnings (EBIT) of €39.2m and earnings before taxes (EBT) of €34.9m, we were able to substantially outperform the first nine months of the previous year (EBIT of €6.1m and EBT of €2.1m). All segments contributed to this performance with positive figures for the quarter and the first nine months,” said Claus Bolza-Schünemann, president and CEO of KBA.

The increased profit generated by the sheetfed segment particularly is said to have strengthened the group’s earnings. The digital and web segment also are reported to have a positive contribution to earnings in the first nine months. The group’s gross profit margin widened from 26.6% in the previous year to 30.4%.

The strength of the group’s favourable business performance in the first nine months and the high capacity utilisation that is secured until well into spring 2017, the company’s group revenue is expected to be between €1.1 and €1.2bn and are projecting an EBT margin of up to 5%.