Drupa Sales Boost KBA in Second Half-year

Higher level of plant utilisation and sales in second half-year

The surge in orders booked at Drupa, along with anticipated post-Drupa business, will substantially improve capacity utilisation and sales at KBA’s sheetfed production plants. Major web press contracts booked at the turn of the year, and a brisk inflow of orders over the past few months, will keep the group’s web press facilities busy until the end of the year and materially boost sales in the third and fourth quarters. Following the divestment of KBA’s rotogravure business in September 2007, an agreement has now been reached with staff representatives on personnel reductions at the relevant plants. In addition to natural attrition, which has already trimmed the payroll by 180, and other measures such as phased retirement, there will be around 100 redundancies at KBA’s Frankenthal operation. While sales of metal-decorating presses and at subsidiary KBA-Metronic were on target at the end of May, the figures for security presses failed to equal the prior year’s high level.