Koenig & Bauer AG Quarterly Report: Orders Up, Turnover Down

The volume of unfilled orders for web and special presses rose from €565.9m to €611.5m, 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 €319.5m to €249m, 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. Fluctuations in capacity utilisation in the first quarter were absorbed via flexible working hours. At the end of March the KBA group payroll stood at 8,181, or 108 fewer than at the same time last year.