Orders, sales and earnings are up, but press maker KBA says things remain “subdued” in its newspaper and web press segment.

The German company reports 20.8 per cent more new orders (to 241.5 million Euros), an 11.9 per cent increase in sales and an operating profit in the sheetfed segment for the first quarter of 2014.

New orders of sheetfed presses were up 10.3 per cent to 146.5 million Euros, while order intake of web and special presses increased by 41.4 per cent to 95 million Euros. Nevertheless, demand for web offset presses remained subdued and along with order backlog it “strained” sales and earnings. Postponed special press deliveries on the customers’ side led to only a slight climb in web and special press sales.

The group’s book-to-bill ratio was positive after the first three months of 2014 and order backlog stood at 588.6 million Euros at the end of the quarter.

A slide of nearly 20 per cent in domestic sales primarily a result of fewer web press deliveries raised the export level from 71.2 per cent to 79.3 per cent year-over-year. Shipments to the rest of Europe contributed 31 per cent to group sales.

The company says indications that demand is gradually picking up can be seen predominantly in the south of Europe, while the Asia-Pacific’s share jumped from 23.2 per cent to 30.4 per cent.

The gross profit margin widened from 21.3 per cent a year ago to 25.4 per cent. The operating loss of 10.2 million Euros was an improvement on last year.

KBA president and chief executive Claus Bolza-Schünemann says implementation of the Fit@All restructuring programme has made “good progress” in the period. The programme includes realignment to focus more strongly on growth markets such as packaging printing with KBA-Kammann and KBA-Flexotecnica (pictured).

Expenses attached to this will be “limited” but will have “a slight impact” on this year’s results: “As in 2013, we are aiming once again for a positive operating result before special items”, he says.