Page 24 - PWM2025_AUGUST EBOOK

NEWS GLOBAL

IN BRIEF K&B plans to offload

Feldmuehle is making
progress with its restruc-
turing plan and has non-core coding wing
thanked customers and
key suppliers for their sup-
port. The German paper- Koenig & Bauer has said EBIT was up €22.7m to
maker was declared insol-
vent earlier this year, when that it could sell its coding €1.8m. The future for
preliminary proceedings began. It had been badly hit by and marking business, and Koenig & Bauer Coding
high prices for energy and raw materials. On 1 August, the has filed preliminary figures could involve a joint ven-
insolvency proceedings under self-administration became that show a positive perfor- ture, partnership, or a possi-
official. In a statement, Feldmuehle said the mill was mance in Q2. CEO Dr
working intensively on cost reduction and structural rea- Stephen Kimmich said that Coding wing has laser marking ble sale of the entire
lignment of the business. “In recent weeks, management operation.
has reached reliable agreements with our stakeholders, in the face of a “persistently €398.6m to €361.7m, K&B Koenig & Bauer said that
including energy suppliers, insurance companies, suppliers challenging market environ- ended the quarter with a coding currently contributes
of raw and auxiliary materials, and service providers. “Just- ment” the group’s Q2 perfor- record order backlog of “stable revenue of around
in-time delivery is running smoothly, enabling us to con- mance reflected the success €1.093bn, up 7.4% on the
tinue to fulfil our customer orders on time and with the of its ‘Spotlight’ efficiency prior year. 4%” to the group – just
usual high quality.” under €51m based on the
programme. The group was also back
In the three months to 30 in the black at the EBIT and 2024 figures – and offered
Wallace Print has invested
£500,000 on two new June overall group sales operating EBIT level. “good prospects for future
machines from Liyu UK, were up 7% to €298.2m Preliminary Q2 EBIT growth”. It is currently part
expanding its capacity to (£257.75m). Although order improved by €24.1m to of K&B’s Special & New
meet increasing demand.
The Rochester, Kent-based intake slipped from €0.4m, while operating Technologies division.
printer installed a Liyu
Platinum KCXL Pro and Liyu New photo printing service
Q-Cut Digital Cutter on its
production floor in February, as a major addition to its cur-
rent setup. With a 50% increase in sales revenue in the first Morrisons has launched a kets across the UK over the has production in Bitterfeld-
five months of the year, Gary Wallace, Wallace Print CEO and new photo printing service next year, with an online Wolfen, Germany, will be
owner, said the new machines will help the business sus-
tain the momentum. The impact of the investment is with a German partner, service launched on 23 July. responsible for running the
already being felt, he told Printweek, and represents a next offering both online and The online platform store platform, in-house pro-
step in the business’s long-term growth strategy to scale instore personalised print allows users to upload duction of all personalised
capacity and expand service range. “These machines allow options for customers. images, with a four to five
us to dramatically increase production capacity – almost items and full fulfilment ser-
doubling what we could produce in a single day – while Poster and photo printing working days delivery vices for Morrisons Photo
also improving job turnaround, waste reduction, and over- services are available as well option for a shipping fee,
all efficiency,” said Wallace. as creating personalised working in partnership with customers. The
photo books, magnets, Royal Mail. Customization Group
Cimpress is investing in the acquired the operational
production of more com- coasters, mugs, phone cases, Item pricing starts from
plex “elevated” products tote bags, key chains, bottle £1.99 for a poster up to assets of ORWO Net out of
as demand for commodity openers and calendars. £20.99 for a landscape A3 insolvency in June.
basics such as business Kiosks are being installed calendar. ORWO filed for insol-
cards wanes. Announcing
year-end results for the at 300 Morrisons supermar- ORWO Photolab, which vency in March this year.
year to 30 June, founder,
chairman and CEO Robert
Keane outlined the firm’s strategy to further expand its Heidelberg shares soar on new deal
presence in categories that are more highly-valued by cus-
tomers, such as merchandise, packaging, labels, signage, Heidelberg’s share price for safety-critical applica-
logo apparel and multi-page printed products like books
and magazines. “Elevated products remain early in the has soared on the back of tions, including military and
‘s-curve’ of web-to-print and mass customisation market news that the group has civilian deployments.
disruption,” Keane stated. “The capabilities and customer expanded into the defence
trust we have initially built via our legacy products have industry through a new part- The firm has been owned
proven to be extensible to elevated products and we have by UK private equity firm
been investing for more than a decade to serve customer nership with German spe-
needs in these growth products.” FY2025 is the first fiscal cialist Vincorion Advanced Heidelberg gets defence deal Star Capital Partnership
year that Cimpress experienced an overall decrease in rev- Systems, while sales at its expertise at Wiesloch beyond since the summer of 2022.
enue and gross profit from business cards, which are the
firm’s largest legacy product “with very strong gross mar- core business were also up in print, and subsequently Heidelberg and Vincorion
gins”. Keane noted that Vista had increased the variable Q1. named military systems as a have agreed a multi-year
gross profit margins for business cards from about 55% in Last year Heidelberg potential market, as well as
FY2005 to 74% in FY2025, and other other legacy products flagged its ambitions to fur- agriculture and green energy. cooperation, which could
also had strong gross profit margins that were materially ther expand the use of its Vincorion specialises in also be expanded in the
higher now than earlier in their life cycle.
manufacturing and R&D innovative energy systems future.
22 PrintWeek MENA August 2025 www.printweekmena.com