Koenig & Bauer on Track for Profitable Growth in 3Q 2022

Driven by a strong third quarter in 2022, the Koenig & Bauer Group is on a growth trajectory despite the turbulent economic environment. Like many manufacturing companies, Koenig & Bauer is still caught between high order backlogs on the one hand and many adverse factors mainly on the supply side on the other.

“Our flexibility and creativity – including in conjunction with our suppliers – are having an impact, as we have learned to deal more effectively with the exceptional situation over the past few months,” said Dr Andreas Pleßke, CEO of Koenig & Bauer, commenting on the growth in revenue and earnings, adding that “following the strong order intake in the first half of 2022, customer demand is still very solid and we are pleased to be able to tap new areas of business with the latest digital and sustainable solutions, thus offering our customers added value”.

With “un:boxing”, Koenig & Bauer is highlighting a phenomenon of our time that shows like no other the interconnectedness of the digital and analog world: a product ordered online is unpacked while the camera is running – the video is uploaded, consumed, shared and liked.

Revenue was spurred by growth in the Sheetfed and Digital & Webfed segments. Group revenue rose by 6.7% year-on-year to €313.9 million between July and September 2022. Sequentially, growth was even stronger, with revenue climbing by 31.7% compared to Q1 and by 23.9% compared to Q2.

The Sheetfed and Digital & Webfed segments in particular contributed to this performance with their product and solution offerings. At €805.7 million, cumulative Group revenue exceeded the previous year’s figure by 2.3%. The share of revenue attributable to service business widened to 32.2% (previous year: 29.9%).

In terms of earnings, Koenig & Bauer achieved EBIT of €10.8 million in the third quarter (previous year: €10.3 million). This improvement is particularly evident in a comparison with the first quarter, in which EBIT stood at €-8.5 million, and the second quarter with EBIT of €-5.3 million. Cumulatively, this resulted in EBIT of €-3.0 million (previous year: €16.7 million).

The effects of higher cost of materials and energy (around €24 million) were not fully offset by the announced price increases (roughly €18 million). This is primarily due to the time lag between price increases and price peaks in the third quarter, for example in energy costs and electronic components. On a positive note, the proportion of other effects did not increase any further compared to the first half of 2022.

In the first nine months of 2022, order intake at the Koenig Bauer & Group came to €1,025.9 million, 4.8% up on the already good figure of €978.6 million reported in the previous year. At €333 million, customer demand also remained solid in the third quarter. Accordingly, order backlog increased by 24.8% over the previous year to €1,027.0 million as of 30 September 2022, providing a solid basis for the fourth quarter of 2022 and beyond.

The new cross-group digital unit, headed by Sandra Wagner, VP digitalisation at Koenig & Bauer, coordinates and supports the development, implementation and market launch of digital products and services – from the seed idea through to market launch.

“We are focusing on our customers, supporting them with digital solutions wherever they can become even more profitable,” said Wagner. At the beginning of October, the digital unit launched an industry-specific solution for integrated energy management, a digital product that combines the two “sustainability” and “digital” components of the “Exceeding Print” corporate strategy.

“In a turbulent economic environment, Koenig & Bauer demonstrated in the third quarter that it is on track for profitable growth and can manage all challenges well,” said Dr. Stephen Kimmich, CFO of the company.

In view of this and due to the shorter planning horizon compared to the beginning of the year, the full-year forecast for 2022 has been confirmed and rendered more precise as follows.

Koenig & Bauer now expects to report operating EBIT of between €15 million and €20 million and an operating EBIT margin of between 1.3% and 1.7% on Group revenue of between €1,160 million and €1,190 million. Until now, Koenig & Bauer had been anticipating a slight increase over the previous year in Group operating revenue (2021: €1,115.8m) and the operating EBIT margin (2021: 0.5%).