KBA Reports Significant Increase in Operating Profit

KBA president and CEO Claus Bolza-Schünemann said: “Our ongoing programme to sustainably improve the profitability of the sheetfed and web offset business should achieve savings in the double-digit million euro range by the end of 2014. Along with the introduction of a product-house organisation and amendments to wage agreements, we started further initiatives to cut general and administrative expenses in core areas, in group-wide purchasing and at the group’s manufacturing facilities. In addition, in the past year we pressed ahead with the realignment of production capacity in place since 2009.”

Further diversification in growth markets
Beside the additional optimization of the group’s internal processes, diversifying in growth markets remains a focus following the entry into the new business field of digital printing. KBA CEO: “The diverse packaging market is particularly of interest to us, which led us to announce the planned takeover of the Italian press manufacturer, Flexotecnica, at the end of February. This company produces presses for the growing market of flexible packaging, such as film. Our focus on improving internal processes and the extension of our product range will cause additional expenses which we invest in the future of the company.”

Source: KBA.