Despite the protracted COVID-19 pandemic, persistent supply chain bottlenecks and the resultant increase in the cost of materials and energy, which have been additionally amplified by the war of aggression in Ukraine, Koenig & Bauer entered 2022 on an upbeat note.
In the Q1 22, order intake came to €349.1m, 22.1% up on the already good figure of €286m reported in the previous year. This was significantly better than the industry average, which declined by 5.9%. At €238.4m, Group revenue was slightly down on the previous year by 2.1%. At 20.0%, however, the industry-wide decline in revenue was significantly greater. The proportion of service business, which is becoming increasingly digital, widened from 28.8% in the previous year to 33.9% in the first quarter of 2022. At €917.5m as of 31 March 2022, the order backlog was 36.0% higher than the previous year’s figure of €674.5m, increasing by 13.7% over the end of the previous year.
“Koenig & Bauer stood its ground in a gloomy economic environment in the first quarter of 2022”, says Andreas Pleßke, Chief Executive Officer, Koenig & Bauer. “Our order intake, which rose by around 22%, shows that, contrary to the assessment of our industry association, the German Mechanical and Plant Engineering Association (VDMA), we have not yet experienced any general purchasing restraint on the part of nervous customers. Together with our historically high order backlog, we see ourselves favourably positioned for the rest of 2022.”
