The company said orders for the year jumped a massive 45.4% to €1.3bn split fairly evenly between sheetfed presses, which increased a third, and web and special presses, which increased nearly 60% year-on-year.

Sales for the year came in at €1.17bn, up 12.3%, and the company posted a net profit of €12.5m, nearly twice the previous year’s €6.6m. It proposed a 30-cent dividend.

Chief executive Helge Hansen was stoic about the results. “Last year’s growth rates were high partly because they followed exceptionally poor prior-year figures, and are therefore unlikely to be repeated on this scale. For 2011, we are targeting a moderate increase in sales and earnings, with both divisions contributing their share.”

However, he was unwilling to offer further guidance given current market volatility.

Despite a revival in domestic sales, KBA’s export levels hit a historic high of nearly 90%, with Asia and Pacific sales surpassing Europe sales for the first time, with particular strong demand in China. Africa also grew its share to more than 20% while the US fell back to 10%.

Dave Lewis, KBA Australasia sheetfed presses general manager, told ProPrint: “Locally, 2010 was a bit better than 2009.” But he pointed out that most of the Asian growth has been in China and other markets such as Korea and Malaysia.

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