Business report
Macroeconomic and industry conditions
According to estimates by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the global economy again grew only moderately by 3.2% (previous year: 3.3%), and was thus below its historical average of 3.7% (2000-2019). Global inflation declined, reaching an annual average of 4.2% (previous year: 6.8%).
Regionally, the trends seen in the previous year continued. The US economy delivered solid growth of 2.8%, performing better than expected. The largest contribution to growth came from the service sector, while the consumption of goods was muted.
Growth in the Eurozone remained subdued, mainly due to the protracted weakness in manufacturing and exports. Further interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank, the decline in inflation and increased nominal wages had only a limited effect on consumer confidence due to heightened uncertainties and, resulting from this, a preference to save. The ongoing war in Ukraine and the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East continue to weigh on the European economy. The largest growth rate among the European Union member states was again recorded in Spain (3.1%), while Germany registered the worst figure again with contraction of 0.2%. In Germany, economic and structural burdens stood in the way of stronger growth in 2024. These particularly included mounting competition for the German export industry in important sell-side markets, high energy costs, persistently high interest rates and also the uncertain economic outlook. In addition to Germany, Japan also recorded a decline of 0.2%. At 4.8% year-on-year, growth in China fell short of expectations. In India, growth slowed to 6.5% (previous year: 8.2%).
Demand for capital goods continued to decline in 2024 in the face of ongoing local crises, geopolitical uncertainties and risks. In addition, profound structural changes and excess capacity in some sell-side sectors weighed on the mechanical engineering industry. In contrast to 2023, when order backlogs were high, thus boosting output and sales figures, production was scaled back at many companies, with revenue often down in price-adjusted terms in 2024. According to the German Mechanical and Plant Engineering Association (VDMA), EU machinery production shrank by around 7% in price and calendar-adjusted terms after declining by 1.4% in the previous year, according to initial preliminary figures. Cumulative revenue growth for 2024 is estimated to have reached -6.0%. According to preliminary calculations by the Federal Statistical Office, mechanical and plant engineering production in Germany fell by 7.5% in real terms over the previous year in 2024. VDMA reports that 7.5% fewer machines and systems were ordered in 2024 in price-adjusted terms than in the previous year. Compared to the same period of the previous year, revenue from the sales of machinery and equipment fell by 8.0%.
At the same time, order intake in the printing press segment rose by 7.5% year-on-year in 2024. This was accompanied by a 15.4% decline in revenue over the previous year’s figure.
Source: VDMA, “Maschinenbaukonjunktur 2024/Ausblick 2025” dated 13 February 2025
Year-on-year gross domestic product (%)
Country/region | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 (estimate) |
| Global | 3.6 | 3.3 | 3.2 |
| Developed economies | 2.9 | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| Eurozone | 3.3 | 0.4 | 0.8 |
| Germany | 1.4 | -0.3 | -0.2 |
| France | 2.6 | 1.1 | 1.1 |
| Italy | 4.7 | 0.7 | 0.6 |
| Spain | 6.2 | 2.7 | 3.1 |
| United Kingdom | 4.8 | 0.3 | 0.9 |
| United States | 2.5 | 2.9 | 2.8 |
| Japan | 1.2 | 1.5 | -0.2 |
| Emerging markets and developing countries | 4.0 | 4.4 | 4.2 |
| ASEAN* | 5.4 | 4.0 | 4.5 |
| Brazil | 3.0 | 3.2 | 3.7 |
| China | 3.0 | 5.2 | 4.8 |
| India** | 7.0 | 8.2 | 6.5 |
| Russia | -1.2 | 3.6 | 3.8 |
*) Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand
**) Fiscal year from 1 April to 31 March
Source: IMF World Economic Outlook Update January 2025, for 2022: IMF October 2024 Database.
Geschäftsverlauf
Business performance
Overall statement on business performance
The Koenig & Bauer Group’s business performance in 2024 was again characterised by a challenging global economic market environment. Protracted uncertainties and spending restraint, rising costs, geopolitical tensions and trade conflicts as well as the announcement of trade tariffs are continuing to leave traces.
Despite these challenges, the company successfully used drupa, the world’s leading trade fair for the printing and graphics industry, to demonstrate its innovation leadership and to step up the direct exchange with customers and brand owners. Accordingly, order intake climbed by 8.9% in the year under review to €1,402.7m (previous year: €1,287.9m). In packaging printing in particular, Koenig & Bauer is benefiting from robust demand, as packaging – especially in the food, beverage and consumer goods sectors – remains in high demand. The Banknote Solutions business unit was also able to gain further orders in the year under review, with the presses to be delivered over several years. This led to the highest year-end order backlog of €1,039.8m (previous year: €911.5m) in Koenig & Bauer’s recent history and provides a strong basis for 2025 and beyond.
Koenig & Bauer responded at an early stage to address the current challenges. Towards the end of last year, the Executive Board initiated the “Spotlight” focus programme to lead the company strengthened out of the current challenging market phase in the face of higher costs and mounting complexity due to internal and external factors. Under “Spotlight”, targeted measures were initiated in the year under review to sustainably increase earnings in profitable areas and to restructure non-profitable ones alongside organisational optimisation. They are placing a burden on Group EBIT while simultaneously laying the foundations for profitable growth in future years.
On 28 November 2024, the Group’s reorganisation was announced and will be implemented in several steps. From 2025, Koenig & Bauer will be positioning itself with a new segment structure that is aligned even more closely to current and future customer needs and the relevant business model. As a result of the leaner structures, the number of segments will be reduced from three to two, namely Paper & Packaging Sheetfed Systems (P&P) and Special & New Technologies (S&T). This will result in changes to central responsibilities for operational and cross-sectional functions. Some tasks will be based to a greater extent in the segments, eliminating the role of the central Group COO. As a result, Michael Ulverich resigned from the Executive Board on highly amicable terms effective 30 November 2024. However, the Group will continue to focus on the high-growth packaging market. Looking forward, Group restructuring will make it possible to reduce the number of Executive Board members to just two, namely Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, something that will be implemented as part of the step-by-step transition to a new generation. In the course of 2025, further steps to reorganise the Executive Board will be taken incrementally.
Despite the challenging economic environment, the normalisation of business performance in the third quarter indicated a strong final quarter in 2024, prompting the Executive Board to define targets that were also required to meet the updated annual forecast:
- High order intake in the Sheetfed segment: No decline in demand is expected following drupa; rather, order intake is expected to remain at the level seen in the second quarter or above.
- Positive free cash flow: Active net working capital management is intended to generate a positive free cash flow as of 31 December.
- Efficiency benefits from “Spotlight”: The focus programme is to achieve a positive EBIT effect of €15 – 20m.
- Strong operating EBIT: In addition, the historically strong order backlog and the above-average contribution to operating profit by the Special segment, which is mainly due to the strong order intake in Q4 2023, should result in operating EBIT after drupa of €45 – 50m in the final quarter.
- The achievement of all sub-goals in the fourth quarter of 2024 underlines the company’s ability to reach the projected results even in a challenging market environment.
- Accordingly, the Koenig & Bauer Group generated revenue of €1,274.4m in 2024 (previous year: €1,326.8m) and operating EBIT adjusted for drupa-related costs of €25.8m (previous year: €29.9m). This corresponds to an operating EBIT margin adjusted for drupa of 2.0% (previous year: 2.3%).
- Accordingly, Group revenue fell slightly by around 4% in line with the forecast of €1.3bn that had been adjusted on 25 July 2024 and was also in line with the original forecast. At €25.8m, operating EBIT adjusted for drupa-related costs was at the lower end of the revised forecast range of €25 – 40m.
The year under review was marked by negative extraordinary items. The “Spotlight” focus programme led to necessary non-operating extraordinary items. They mainly relate to adjustments to material and personnel costs and amounted to €50.4m, slightly above the upper end of the target corridor of €30 – 45m and were recognised in the Group’s income statement as an expense. In addition, there were one-off expenses for drupa of €10.5m. The “Spotlight” focus programme is described in detail in the “Goals and strategy” chapter on page 26.
As a result, Group EBIT reached €-35.1m (previous year: €29.9m), yielding an EBIT margin of -2.8% (previous year: 2.3%). On the assumption that non-operating extraordinary items would reach the upper edge of the forecast corridor of €30 – 45m for “Spotlight”, the company expected to achieve the lower end of the corridor for Group EBIT of € -15 – -30m (-1.2% – -2.3% EBIT margin). Non-operating extraordinary items of €50.4m exceeded the expected corridor due to the Executive Board’s decision to discontinue the CS-MetalCan project for two-piece beverage can printing. This resulted in additional non-operating extraordinary items of €5.4m.
EBIT adjusted for drupa came to €-24.6m (previous year: €29.9m), resulting in an EBIT margin of -1.9% (previous year: 2.3%). The decline is attributable to the above-mentioned non-operating extraordinary items from the “Spotlight” focus programme. As a result, the original forecast, which assumed an EBIT adjusted for drupa of between €15 – 30m, was not reached. This is due to the fact that the actual effects of the “Spotlight” focus program were still unknown on the date of the original forecast and therefore did not include the non-operational extraordinary items required for it. As announced, “Spotlight” was not scaled and detailed until after drupa on the basis of the real effects.
The segments contributed the following EBIT in the year under review: Sheetfed €17.1m (previous year: €29.8m), Digital & Webfed €-53.3m (previous year: €-23.9m), Special €-5.2m (previous year: €23.0m). The segments contributed the following revenue in 2024: Sheetfed: €734.8m (previous year: €779.8m), Digital & Webfed: €157.6m (previous year: €172.3m), Special: €407.4m (previous year: €413.7m).
The aforementioned non-operating extraordinary items resulting from “Spotlight” impacted Digital & Webfed’s segment EBIT by €27.4m and Special’s segment EBIT by €15.7m as a result of material and personnel cost adjustments. The Digital & Webfed segment recorded drupa-related costs of €0.4m and the Special segment €2.7m. The chapter “Segment performance” on page 42 presents the performance of the segments in detail.
Financially, the Koenig & Bauer Group is well positioned, with a Group equity ratio of roughly 23.3% (previous year: 28.7%) and more than €150m in freely available cash and cash equivalents. This was also aided by active net working capital management in the year under review.
In view of the earnings performance in 2024 and the persistently challenging global economic environment, the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board will be proposing at the annual general meeting that a dividend be omitted for the financial year as a result of the net loss reported by Koenig & Bauer AG. As Koenig & Bauer attaches great importance to ensuring the appropriate participation of its shareholders in the company’s success, the dividend policy provides for the distribution of a dividend of 15 – 35% of consolidated earnings, with a minimum dividend of €0.30 per share, subject to profitable business performance during the year.
To summarise, the Koenig & Bauer Group’s business performance and business situation were in line with expectations, taking into account the global challenges in 2024, the revised forecast and the adjusted “spotlight” measures.
Earnings
| €m | 2023 | 2024 |
| Sheetfed | 606.2 | 732.5 |
| Digital & Webfed | 179.8 | 160.6 |
| Special | 538.8 | 541.9 |
| Reconciliation | -36.9 | -32.2 |
| Total | 1,287.9 | 1,402.7 |
With an increase of 8.9% compared to the previous year, order intake in the drupa year of 2024 was, as expected, higher, amounting to €1,402.7m (previous year: €1,287.9m). The following picture emerged in the segments: At €732.5m, order intake in Sheetfed exceeded the previous year’s figure by 20.8%. The strong final quarter, which did not see any decline in demand after drupa and was the strongest quarter of the year, contributed significantly to this positive result. At €160.6m, orders in the Digital & Webfed segment fell short of the previous year’s figure by 10.7%. Nevertheless, incoming orders grew from quarter to quarter, more than doubling in the second half of the year compared to the first. After the high figure achieved in the previous year, the Special segment was able to increase its order intake by 0.6% to €541.9m. This was better than the industry average for printing presses, which rose by 7.5% in 2024 according to VDMA.
Group revenue
| €m | 2023 | 2024 |
| Sheetfed | 779.8 | 734.8 |
| Digital & Webfed | 172.3 | 157.6 |
| Special | 413.7 | 407.4 |
| Reconciliation | -39.0 | -25.4 |
| Total | 1,326.8 | 1,274.4 |
Group revenue by product group
| €m | 2023 | 2024 |
| Service | 383.5 | 396.9 |
| Printing presses | 925.3 | 862.1 |
| Other | 18.0 | 15.4 |
| Total | 1,326.8 | 1,274.4 |
Group revenue by region
| €m | 2023 | 2024 |
| Germany | 173.3 | 163.7 |
| Rest of Europe | 386.8 | 364.9 |
| North America | 300.1 | 367.1 |
| Asia/Pacific | 325.8 | 262.5 |
| Africa/Latin America | 140.8 | 116.2 |
| Total | 1,326.8 | 1,274.4 |
| in % | ||
| Germany | 13.1 | 12.9 |
| Rest of Europe | 29.1 | 28.6 |
| North America | 22.6 | 28.8 |
| Asia/Pacific | 24.5 | 20.6 |
| Africa/Latin America | 10.7 | 9.1 |
In a persistently challenging market environment, Group revenue reached €1,274.4m in the year under review, 3.9% below the previous year’s figure of €1,326.8m. Sequentially, however, revenue improved from quarter to quarter in all segments, resulting in a stronger second half.
At 5.8%, revenue growth in the Sheetfed segment fell short of the previous year, mainly due to the decline in order intake in Q3 2023. In the Special segment, a lower percentage of completion (POC) compared to the previous year in the Banknote Solutions business unit for delivery-related reasons caused a 1.5% decline in revenue. Revenue in the Digital & Webfed segment fell by 8.5% over the previous year, reflecting the exceptionally high revenue recorded in the fourth quarter of the previous year.
The revenue of the Koenig & Bauer Group was far above the industry-wide figure for revenue from printing presses, which declined by 15.4% in the year according to VDMA. The good order situation in the drupa year is also reflected in the book-to-bill ratio of 1.10 (previous year: 0.97). Moreover, the proportion of revenue from service business widened to 31.1% (previous year: 28.9%).
The Group export ratio rose slightly from 86.9% in the previous year to 87.1% in the year under review. This primarily reflected the good business performance in North America, which led to an increase in that region’s share to 28.8% (previous year: 22.6%). On the other hand, the proportion of revenue from Germany (12.9%, previous year: 13.1%), the rest of Europe (28.6%, previous year: 29.1%), Asia (20.6%, previous year: 24.5%) and Latin America and Africa (9.1%, previous year: 10.7%) declined over the previous year.
Group order backlog
| €m | 2023 | 2024 |
| Sheetfed | 409.3 | 407.0 |
| Digital & Webfed | 119.8 | 122.8 |
| Special | 378.5 | 513.0 |
| Reconciliation | 3.9 | -3.0 |
| Gesamt | 911.5 | 1,039.8 |
Order backlog climbed by 14.1% to €1,039.8m at the end of the year under review (previous year: €911.5m), marking the highest year-end figure in Koenig & Bauer’s recent history. It provides a solid basis for 2025 and beyond but is not evenly distributed across all segments.
Group income statement
| €m | 2023 | 2024 |
| Revenue | 1,326.8 | 1,274.4 |
| Cost of sales | 979.3 | -979.4 |
| Gross profit | 347.5 | 295.0 |
| Research and development costs | –57.5 | -54.5 |
| Selling costs | –158.1 | -171.0 |
| Administrative expenses | –104.7 | -104.0 |
| Other operating income | 24.9 | 19.4 |
| Impairment gains and losses on financial assets | 3.0 | 3.3 |
| Other financial result | 0.6 | 0.4 |
| Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) | 29.9 | -35.1 |
| Other interest and similar income | 2.3 | 4.9 |
| Other interest and similar expenses | -19.2 | -29.0 |
| Interest result | -16.9 | -24.1 |
| Earnings before taxes (EBT) | 13.0 | -59.2 |
| Income taxes | -10.2 | -10.6 |
| Group profit | 2.8 | -69.8 |
| of which | ||
| Shareholders of the parent company | 2.6 | -70.1 |
| Non-controlling interests | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| Earnings per share (€, diluted/basic) | 0.9 | -4.24 |
Gross profit fell by 15.1% to €295.0m in the year under review (previous year: €347.5m), resulting in a gross margin of 23.1% (previous year: 26.2%). Research and development expenses fell by €3.0m to €54.5m (previous year: €57.5m), mainly as a result of the company’s systematic go-to-market approach. Selling expenses increased by €12.9m to €171.0m (previous year: €158.1m) primarily as a result of increased advertising costs, which mainly include expenses related to drupa. Administrative expenses also fell by €0.7m to €104.0m, reflecting the preliminary cost-cutting effects under the Spotlight focus programme (previous year: €104.7m). Net other expenses came to €-3.9m, compared with net other expenses of €-0.3m in the previous year. Among other things, this was due to currency-translation effects. All told, this resulted in EBIT of €-35.1m (previous year: €29.9m), equivalent to an EBIT margin of -2.8%, compared with 2.3% in the previous year. This was attributable to the relatively weak order situation in Q3 2023 in the Sheetfed segment and a lower percentage of completion (POC) compared to the previous year in the Banknote Solutions business unit for delivery-related reasons, which also caused negative volume and mix effects (€4.2m). In addition, non-operating extraordinary items for the “Spotlight” focus programme amounted to €50.4m, while the drupa-related costs reached €10.5m. As expected, this weighed on earnings. Accordingly, operating EBIT came to €15.3m (previous year: €29.9m), translating into an operating EBIT margin of 1.2%, compared with 2.3% in the previous year. Operating EBIT in the fourth quarter stood at €46.5m (previous year: €32.0m), making it, as expected, the strongest quarter of the entire year. Operating EBIT adjusted for drupa came to €25.8m (previous year: €29.9m), translating into a drupa-adjusted EBIT margin of 2.0% (previous year: 2.3%). The net interest expense of €-24.1m was higher than in the previous year (previous year: €-16.9m), mainly due to the higher interest rates charged by banks, resulting in earnings before taxes of €-59.2m (previous year: €13.0m). After income taxes of €10.6m (previous year: €10.2m), the Group posted a net loss of €-69.8m in 2024 (previous year: net profit of €2.8m). This translates into proportionate earnings per share of €-4.24 (previous year: €-0.16).
Finances
Cash flow from operating activities amounted to €73.4m (previous year: €-31.8m). The improved operating performance over the previous year is mainly due to active net working capital management, under which inventories were run off and receivables and other assets reduced. On the other hand, liabilities including other liabilities increased. In addition, prepayments received grew at a greater pace than in the previous year. At €-41.8m, cash flow from investing activities was down on the previous year’s figure of €-61.6m due to spending restraint in the year under review. This resulted in a strong positive free cash flow for the year as a whole, amounting to €31.6m on balance (previous year: €-93.4m). This was chiefly due to changes in net working capital, which stood at €294.2m as of 31 December 2024 (previous year: €379.0m). It was positively impacted by a supply chain optimisation programme to the tune of €14.4m (previous year: €22.4m). Cash flow from financing activities came to €1.3m (previous year: €61.2m) and was affected not only by changes in the syndicated loan but also by payments to and from a financial service provider. At the end of December 2024, cash and cash equivalents were valued at €133.7m (previous year: €96.4m). Adjusted for bank liabilities of €261.8m (previous year: 244), net financial debt amounted to €-128.1m (previous year: €-147.6m).
The Group has access to syndicated credit facilities of a total of €500m from a consortium of banks. In addition to a revolving cash facility of €300m, the syndicated finance includes a guarantee facility of €200m. The credit facilities have a tenor of five years, meaning that they will expire in October 2028, subject to a two-year renewal option assuming the lenders’ approval. To highlight the importance that Koenig & Bauer attaches to sustainability in its funding operations, the contract also includes ESG components, which are evaluated annually in a bonus/malus process and, depending on the achievement of the ESG target values, reduce (bonus) or increase (malus) funding costs. The Group-wide external financing framework also consists of further bilateral credit facilities, mainly in the form of guarantee credit facilities.
Assets
As of 31 December 2024, equity stood at €331.2m and the equity ratio at 23.3% (31 December 2023: €410.0m and 28.7%). This was mainly due to the net loss of €-69.8m (31 December 2023: net profit of €2.8m), which, in addition to the costs of €10.5m for drupa, also includes extraordinary items of €50.4m for the “Spotlight” focus programme. The Koenig & Bauer Group’s total assets stood at €1,422.7m as of 31 December 2024 (previous year: €1,427.1m).
Assets
A total of €52.5m (previous year: €64.2m) was spent on property, plant and equipment and intangible assets in connection with construction and IT projects in the period under review. Capital spending includes capitalised development costs of €12.6m (previous year: €17.2m). This was accompanied by depreciation and amortisation expense of €44.3m (previous year: €43.5m). On balance, intangible assets and property, plant and equipment dropped slightly from €411.1m to €402.4m. Non-current assets decreased by €15.5m compared with the previous year to €532.7m. This was caused by a decline of €19.7m in property, plant and equipment to €235.8m (previous year: €255.5m) and of €7.6m in financial investments and other financial receivables to €17.6m (previous year: €25.2m). On the other hand, intangible assets increased by €11.0m to €166.6m (previous year: €155.6m) and deferred tax assets by €2.1m to €95.3m (previous year: €93.2m). Current assets rose by €11.1m to €890.0m as of 31 December 2024 (previous year: €878.9m). This was underpinned by the increase of €24.3m in other assets to €173.7m (previous year: €149.4m) and of €16.0m in other financial receivables to €57.3m (previous year: €41.3m). By contrast, inventories fell by €57.9m to €368.9m (previous year: €426.8m) and trade receivables by €14.1m to €142.1m (previous year: €156.2m). Cash and cash equivalents rose by €37.3m to €133.7m (previous year: €96.4m). Assets held for sale were valued at €7.9m (previous year: €0.0m). At €1,422.7m, the Group’s total assets were slightly below the figure of €1,427.1m recorded at the end of 2023.
Equity and liabilities
The consolidated net loss of €-69.8m (previous year: net profit of €2.8m) includes not only the costs for drupa of €10.5m, but also extraordinary items for the “Spotlight” focus programme amounting to €50.4m. This contributed significantly to the decline in equity from €410.0m as of 31 December 2023 to €331.2m as of the end of 2024, translating into an equity ratio of 23.3% as of the reporting date (year-end 2023: 28.7%). With the discount rate for domestic pensions of 3.5% as of 31 December 2024 (previous year: 3.4%) slightly higher than in the previous year, retirement benefit provisions rose slightly by €0.5m to €105.3m (previous year: €104.8m), mainly due to foreign pensions. Non-current liabilities increased by €49.1m to €485.0m (previous year: €435.9m), mainly due to the increase of €53.2m in financial liabilities and other financial liabilities to €270.4m (previous year: €217.2m). Current liabilities increased by €25.3m over the end of 2023, coming to €606.5m (previous year: €581.2m). This reflects the increase of €21.3m in other provisions to €111.0m (previous year: €89.7m) and of €33.2m in other liabilities to €303.5m (previous year: €270.3m). The decrease of €7.1m in trade payables to €72.2m (previous year: €79.3m) and of €21.0m in financial liabilities and other financial liabilities to €117.6m (previous year: €138.6m) had the opposite effect. Current income tax liabilities fell by €1.1m to €2.2m (previous year: €3.3m).
Segment performance
At €732.5m, order intake in the Sheetfed segment was up 20.8% on the previous year’s figure of €606.2m following a strong final quarter. This performance was also driven by the strong final quarter, which, contrary to expectations after drupa, did not see any decline in demand and, at €220.8m, was 45.5% up on the previous year. It is also the segment’s strongest quarter of the year. The time-delayed effect of the relatively muted order intake in Q3 2023 was the main reason for a 5.8% decline in revenue to €734.8m (previous year: €779.8m). Sequentially, however, revenue improved from quarter to quarter, so that, at €268.4m in the final quarter, it was 8.1% higher than in the previous year. With a book-to-bill ratio of 1.0 (previous year: 0.78) as of 31 December, order backlog dropped to €407.0m (previous year: €409.3m). At €17.1m at the end of the financial year, EBIT fell short of the previous year’s figure of €29.8m and includes proportionate drupa-related costs of €7.2m. Reflecting this, the EBIT margin came to 2.3% (previous year: 3.8%). Operating EBIT corresponds to EBIT and the operating EBIT margin to the EBIT margin. Operating EBIT adjusted for drupa came to €24.3m (previous year: €29.8m), translating into a drupa-adjusted operating EBIT margin of 3.3% (previous year: 3.8%).
In 2024, the Digital & Webfed segment was not yet able to fully shake off the effects of the temporary weakness afflicting the market for corrugated board. However, orders more than doubled in the second half of the year compared to the first half. At €160.6m (previous year: €179.8m), order intake fell short of the previous year’s figure by 10.7%. Revenue fell by 8.4% year-on-year to €157.6m (previous year: €172.3m), reflecting the exceptionally high revenue recorded in the fourth quarter of the previous year. The company has also prepared for lower revenue by implementing measures in the “Spotlight” focus programme. With the book-to-bill ratio of 1.02 on a par with the previous year (previous year: 1.04) as of 31 December, the order backlog of €122.6m came close to the previous year’s figure of €119.8m. At the end of the year under review, EBIT amounted to €-53.3m (previous year: €-23.9m) and includes a non-operating extraordinary item of €27.4m from “Spotlight”, resulting in an EBIT margin of -33.8% (previous year: -13.9%). Operating EBIT came to €-25.9m (previous year: €-23.9m), resulting in an operating EBIT margin of -16.4% (previous year: -13.9%). The segment also accounts for €0.4m of the drupa-related costs. Operating EBIT adjusted for drupa thus stood at €-25.5m (previous year: €-23.9m), equivalent to a drupa-adjusted operating EBIT margin of -16.2% (previous year: -13.9%).
After the high figure achieved in the previous year, the Special segment was able to increase its order intake by 0.6% to €541.9m as of 31 December 2024. Orders received by Coding (marking solutions for all industries) and Kammann (direct decoration of hollow bodies made of glass and plastic) were lower than in the previous year. On the other hand, orders intake at MetalPrint (metal packaging) was higher. At Banknote Solutions (banknote and security printing), order intake repeated the previous year’s pleasingly high level, which again included tenders from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) in Washington, D.C. Revenue fell slightly by 1.5% to €407.4m at the end of the year (previous year: €413.7m), the reason for this being a lower percentage of completion (POC) in the Banknote Solutions business unit for delivery-related reasons compared to the previous year. With a book-to-bill ratio of 1.33 (previous year: 1.30) as of 31 December 2024, order backlog widened by 35.5% to €513.0m (previous year: €378.5m). The segment stands to benefit from the high order backlog over the next few years. At the end of the year under review, EBIT amounted to €-5.2m (previous year: €23.0m) and includes a non-operating extraordinary item of €15.7m from “Spotlight”, resulting in an EBIT margin of -1.3% (previous year: 5.6%). Operating EBIT thus came to €10.5m (previous year: €23.0m), resulting in an operating EBIT margin of 2.6% (previous year: 5.6%). The segment also accounts for €0.2m of the drupa-related costs. Operating EBIT adjusted for drupa came to €10.7m (previous year: €23.0m), translating into a drupa-adjusted operating EBIT margin of 2.6% (previous year: 5.6%).