Ad-hoc | 15 May 2006 07:58

Koenig & Bauer AG: Outlook good for 2006 after slow start

Ad hoc announcement transmitted by DGAP – a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. —————————————————————————— German printing press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) won contracts worth €340.6m in the first quarter, 10.9% below the record figure of €382.4m for the corresponding period in 2005. While new bookings for web and special presses jumped 21.2% to €167.9m following a string of orders for commercial and security presses and big newspaper presses, soft demand in January and February slowed the inflow of new orders for sheetfed presses to €172.7m, 29.2% down on 2005 (which, however, was 40% up on 2004). Far from signalling a downturn, the dip in sheetfed contracts proved to be a temporary blip that allowed the sheetfed offset division to consolidate strong prior-year growth before returning to business as usual in March. Shipping schedules resulted in group sales of €309.4m, roughly on a par with the previous year (€311.3m) but a long way off course for meeting the annual target. However, an order backlog of €1,072.1m, 11.2% up on the high prior-year figure of €964.1m, will keep KBA’s production plants busy until well into the second half of the year. Lagging sales also impacted on earnings, leading to an operating loss of €6.5m (2005: –€6.2m) and a net loss of €5.3m (2005: –€6.8m). The proportional loss per share was 33 cents (2005: loss of 42 cents). Despite a weak start to the year, KBA stands by its end-of-quarter prognosis for 2006 of a single-digit increase in sales and a substantial improvement in pre-tax earnings compared to 2005 (€25.8m). (c)DGAP 15.05.2006 ————————————————————————— Language: English Issuer: KOENIG & BAUER AG Friedrich-Koenig Straße 4 97080 Würzburg Deutschland Phone: +49 (0)931 909-4835 Fax: +49 (0)931 909-6015 email: bernd.heusinger@kba-print.de WWW: www.kba-print.de ISIN: DE0007193500 WKN: 719350 indices: SDAX Listed: Amtlicher Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard), München; Freiverkehr in Berlin-Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart End of News DGAP News-Service —————————————————————————