KBA’s sales rose by 4.7 per cent  to €772.1m compared with €737.3m in 2009. Higher revenues in the third quarter, in conjunction with cost savings from an ongoing consolidation programme, resulted in a pre-tax profit of €15.3m, compared with €9.6m the year before.

Earnings before taxes for the full nine months improved from –€37.8m in 2009 to –€6.7m. A net loss of €9.2m was also much better than the prior-year loss of €39m.

Sales to Asia and the Pacific accounted for 26.8 per cent of the Group total, an increase on the 23.5 per cent in 2009. The increase is largely due to brisk demand from China, according to the company.

At the end of September there were 6,437 employees on the group’s payroll, 658 fewer than at the same time last year. Since the financial crisis broke in summer 2008 it has shed around 1,700 jobs.

However, the company outlines that to maintain a high standard of technological skills it took on 419 apprentices and interns at the beginning of the new academic year, raising its training level from 5.8 per cent to 6.5 per cent.

In the third-quarter report KBA president Helge Hansen reaffirmed the goals for 2010. He says, “I am confident that the scheduled rise in fourth-quarter sales will enable us to boost the year-end total by around 7 per cent to achieve our goal of €1.1bn-plus.

“On current readings, our pre-tax profit will also be appreciably higher than in 2009 (€2.7m). If this is confirmed at the end of December, we shall consider paying a dividend again after a two-year hiatus.”

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