Ad hoc: Koenig & Bauer AG: Koenig & Bauer AG: orders up, turnover down

May 15, 2008 (Hugin via COMTEX) -- KOEBF | news | PowerRating | PR Charts -- Koenig & Bauer AG / Interim report / Koenig & Bauer AG: orders up, turnover down Ad hoc announcement according to 15 WpHG processed and transmitted by Hugin ASA. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------

Defying the financial crisis, a strong euro and a pre-Drupa lag in demand for sheetfed presses, in the first three months of the year German printing press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) posted a 5.5% increase in new orders to n370.3m (2007: n350.9m). Its web and special press division bucked the industry trend with major contracts from US and Turkish newspaper publishers, which helped boost the order intake by an above-average 10.6% from n180.2m to n199.3m. And despite a sluggish US market, the volume of incoming orders for sheetfed presses, at n171m, was roughly the same as the previous year (n170.7m).

As in the years 2004 to 2006, group sales fell well short of the prior-year figure (n301.7m, compared to n414.2m). While sheetfed sales of n144m were just 8% lower than in 2007 (n156.6m), sales of web and special presses slid by more than a third, from n257.6m to n157.7m. This is because most web presses will not ship until the second half of the year.

The shortfall in sales impacted heavily on results, with an operating loss of n5m (2007: n13.5m profit) and pre-tax loss of n6.4m (2007: n13m profit) lagging targets by a wide margin. KBA closed the quarter with a net loss of n1m (2007: n9.3m profit) and proportional earnings per share of -6 cents (2007: +57 cents).

The volume of unfilled orders for web and special presses rose from n565.9m to n611.5m, ensuring that the level of plant utilisation will be higher into the autumn than it was in the past few quarters. But the backlog of orders for sheetfed presses fell from n319.5m to n249m, so further contracts are needed to safeguard production in the second half-year. KBA is confident that the Drupa trade fair that opens in late May will provide the necessary stimulus.

KBA president and CEO Albrecht Bolza-Schunemann says: "Looking beyond the unsatisfactory first-quarter sales and earnings, and notwithstanding the economic, currency and commodity-related risks our group is facing, we stand by the targets we stated in late March of around n1.6bn in sales and a pre-tax profit on a par with 2007 (n63.2m)."

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Koenig & Bauer AG Friedrich-Koenig-Strasse 4 Wurzburg Germany

WKN: 719350; ISIN: DE0007193500; Index: SDAX; Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurter Wertpapierborse, Geregelter Markt in Bayerische Borse Munchen, Freiverkehr in Borse Stuttgart, Freiverkehr in Hanseatische Wertpapierborse zu Hamburg, Freiverkehr in Borse Berlin, Prime Standard in Frankfurter Wertpapierborse, Freiverkehr in Borse Dusseldorf;

SOURCE: Koenig & Bauer AG

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