Nine press orders in the last three months worth a total of 80 million Euros ($119.2 million) are helping keep manroland web's revenue on target, the German press maker says.

And there's more in prospect, with reports that recently-expanded Australian print group Ive is to buy a second 80-page heatset press for its new Sydney catalogue facility, bringing its total to five (four of them from manroland).

manroland says its commitment to web-offset and entry into new business fields is supported by "numerous" major orders for presses and service contracts in the last two months.

These come from print systems for commercial, newspaper and digital printing, retrofit service solutions, wear and spare parts, and other services.

"With the financial security given by our long-term investing shareholder L. Possehl & Co, we can maintain capabilities and competence in the company, which is a precondition for excellent solutions driving visible benefits for the customer," said a spokesperson.

manroland web has entered the packaging print market with its integrated Varioman concept, and is doing well in the press automation space, where it has been successful with conversions for Star Tribune and CNP Concord on non-manroland equipment.

The company says revenue results for the current year are "on target" and expected to match last year's figures.

Australia's Ive Group is expected to buy a second 80-page manroland Lithoman for its greenfield Huntingwood, NSW print site after landing substantial orders. $22 million from a $55.6 million capital raising is earmarked for the press, with another $20 million going to its acquisition of direct mail services company Sema Holdings, plus $14 million for "smaller acquisitions, transaction costs and balance sheet purposes".

The move follows last year's acquisition of Franklin Web and AIW, with the extra press set to create a new imbalance in heatset capacity and increased price competition with expanded competitor PMP by the time it comes on stream next August.