Koenig & Bauer has released its latest preliminary financial figures, saying it has closed the 2024 financial year with a “historically strong final quarter” in a challenging global economic market environment.
The company said it has reached all the targets defined in November 2024 required to meet the updated full-year forecast.
Following on from the announcement, Koenig & Bauer Australia managing director Graham Harris said the financials support Koenig and Bauer Australia and New Zealand’s commitment and investment to the local region.
“Koenig and Bauer Australia and New Zealand are excited to share our recent group financial announcement, confirming that our commitment to building strong partnerships with our customers globally and in both Australia and New Zealand are increasing,” he told Sprinter.
“We express our gratitude for the support from our loyal clients as we embark on this new journey together.
“As part of our dedication to excellence, Koenig & Bauer A/NZ has invested in new support, service engineers, and a demonstrator.
“This investment highlights our commitment not just to our existing customers but also to those who have recently partnered with us. By working closely, we look forward to a successful and prosperous future in 2025 and beyond.”
Koenig & Bauer reported an operating EBIT of €46.5 million (up from €32.0 million the previous year) and a strong positive free cash flow in the fourth quarter. The company said this resulted in a positive free cash flow for the year, although it remained at a loss of €35.8 million in the first nine months.
It also reported an operating EBIT of €25.8 million adjusted for extraordinary items for the “Spotlight” focus programme and costs for the drupa trade fair was achieved for 2024 with a revenue of €1.274 billion.
According to the company, this was due to the above-average contribution of €24.0 million to operating profit from the Special segment in the final quarter, mainly because of the strong order intake in Q4 2023, as well as the efficiency benefits harnessed under “Spotlight”.
Revenue fell slightly by 2.0 per cent to €405.6 million in the Special segment, which it said was due to a lower percentage of completion (POC) in deliveries in the Banknote Solutions business unit compared to the previous year.
After drupa, the Sheetfed segment did not see any decline in demand, posting an order intake of €220.8 million (up 45.5 per cent YOY) in the final quarter, which it said was also the strongest quarter of the year.
This also resulted in a high group order intake of €1.402 billion (up 8.9 per cent YOY) in 2024 and increased the group’s order backlog to €1.039 billion (up 14.1 per cent YOY) with a book-to-bill ratio of 1.10.
Koenig & Bauer also said in 2024, the Digital & Webfed segment was not yet able to fully recover from the temporary weakness of the corrugated board market.
As a result of a strong final quarter, a further sequential improvement was achieved, but the order intake of €160.6 million fell short of the previous year’s figure by 10.7 per cent. Revenue fell by 8.4 per cent to €157.8 million at the end of the year for this quarter.
Koenig & Bauer said this marks the highest year-end figure in its recent history and provides a strong basis for 2025 and beyond.
Koenig & Bauer CEO Dr. Andreas Pleßke said, “The achievement of our targets testifies to our company’s performance and flexibility and highlights our operational resilience as well as the success of our “Spotlight” measures.
“We used drupa to demonstrate our innovative strength and to intensify relations with our customers. However, spending restraint, geopolitical tensions and trade conflicts continue to pose challenges.
“The fact that we are operating in the less volatile packaging markets is paying off. Packaging of all kinds is always needed, especially in the food, pharmaceutical, beverage and consumer goods markets.”
The company will be publishing its audited financial statements and annual report for 2024 on 26 March.
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