In his letter to shareholders, and in the outlook of the third-quarter report, Helge Hansen, KBA president and CEO, stated that group sales are unlikely to exceed the €1.1bn mark in 2009, and will be a good 25 per cent below the prior-year figure of €1.53bn, owing to an unexpectedly weak inflow of orders for multi-unit web presses. While market conditions make provisions necessary in the final quarter for a capacity reduction in the web division that is much bigger than originally planned, KBA stands by its objective of posting a balanced group result (EBT) by the end of the year. Hansen said, “If the fourth quarter proves disappointing and we post a negative result for the year, it will be in the low single-digit million euro range and would still represent a notable achievement compared to the performance of other players in the sector.”

After picking up strongly in April, and remaining buoyant in the Northern Hemisphere summer, orders for sheetfed presses came to €149.4m in the third quarter, up from €145m in the second. A bright spot was security printing. Group sales were on schedule at €737.3m (2008: €1,075.3m).

KBA says that brisk sales in China, the Middle East, Latin America and other markets partially alleviated lower demand in Europe and the USA. European exports fell from 52.3 per cent to 34.8 per cent of total group sales. Buoyant demand in China helped boost exports to Asia and the Pacific from 19.1 per cent to 23.5 per cent of the group total.

The company says that cost-cutting initiatives launched in March delivered savings of more than €80m by the end of September. Other positives for the company included posting a pre-tax profit for the first time this year, solid cash flows, good liquidity and an equity capitalisation of €373.6m.

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