The group order intake climbed 37.4 per cent to €432.1m (AU$576,4) compared with €314.4m in 2010, with brisk demand for niche products driving up the volume of contracts awarded for KBA’s web and special presses by 42.8 per cent to €290.6m.

But the press giant claims orders for newspaper and commercial presses stagnated in the wake of structural changes wrought by the spread of e-media. Business was better in the sheetfed sector, where the internet has had less of an impact and packaging printing has also helped to fuel growth.

The influx of new orders for sheetfed offset presses swelled by 27.6 per cent to €141.5m. The group order backlog of €619.6m was over 40 per cent bigger than at the end of last year, with web and special presses contributing €441.4m and sheetfed presses €178.2m.

Export levels remained unchanged at 86.5 per cent, and while sales to Asia and the Pacific were higher, the regional contribution of 24.3 per cent was lower than the previous year’s 27.7 per cent.

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