German offset press giantKBA says its recent structural realignment has helped deliver a 46 per cent rise in group revenue compared to first quarter 2015. Since late 2013, KBA has implemented several business restructuring measures after it reported a sales and order slump due to market and economic developments. This resulted in subdued demands for its web, sheetfed and special presses. However, for first quarter 2016 it has reported sales growth across all three segments. The group’s gross profit margin has jumped from 20.6 per cent to 29.8 per cent and EBIT for this quarter brought in $3.2m compared to a $25m loss for the previous year.
Successful restructure: KBA CEO Claus Bolza-Schunemann
Claus Bolza-Schunemann, chief executive at KBZ, says the business’s optimisation measures have delivered the expected results. He says, “Despite economic problems in key sales markets I remain confident that group revenue will rise to around €1.1bn in 2016, and that we will achieve the EBT margin of three to four per cent announced. “The substantial cut in cost base after completing the group restructuring, improved capacity utilisation, implemented price adjustments and a stronger footing in less price-sensitive growth and special markets will be beneficial.†Its largest segment Sheetfed experienced considerable growth with a 41 per cent jump in revenue from $169m to $239m. However, incoming orders for Sheetfed were lower than expected in the lead up to drupa. The Digital & Web segment stood out with a 109.8 per cent spike in revenue from $20m to $43m. In the Special segment, revenue grew 40 per cent to $137m, which is tipped to improve even further over the coming quarters due to a strong backlog in orders. KBA attributes its growth across all three segments to a booming packaging print market, which it says was responsible for 70 per cent of total sales.
