Metamorphosis is defined as dramatic change “in form and often the habits”. Press maker Koenig & Bauer added a bracketed (e) to emphasise its constant change, “the key to growth and success”.

The occasion was the company’s first physical annual meeting for three years, at which its “successful metamorphosis of numbers and product experience” was impressed on visitors.

Part of the message was in an interactive product showcase highlighting substrate variety, “everyday in your hand”.

Part was in seized opportunities, and “partnerships turned into numbers”.

Today, Koenig & Bauer AG calls itself a global technology provider with a focus on special printing applications, particularly in the packaging sector.

However, supervisory board chairman Raimund Klinkner said the company still had a long way to go towards reaching its goal and that metamor[e]phosis, as a process of constant change, was the key to growth and success.

Embedded in the ‘Exceeding Print’ strategy, the three pillars of sustainability, digitisation and modularity, “mutually reinforce each other and form the best possible basis for a successful future”.

Shareholders voted on eight of the nine items on the agenda and elected former chief executive Claus Bolza-Schünemann – the great-great-grandson of its founder – to the supervisory board.

Under the theme ‘the future is decided now’, chief executive Andreas Pleßke highlighted opportunities that the company can leverage in the face of growing globalisation and the trend towards “nearshoring”, explaining why synergies, cross-selling and keeping track of the entire value chain were becoming increasingly important.

He also addressed “the problem of the inverted age pyramid” and how Koenig & Bauer, as a technology group, was positioning itself in the competition for motivated and well-trained specialists. Initiatives included new courses at its vocational school, a pilot four-day/35-hour week project, and construction of a daycare centre at the Würzburg site.

Mention of a new partnership with Volkswagen on joint development of sustainable battery cells provided an opportunity to emphasise core competences: “We have over 200 years of experience, knowledge and practical implementation expertise,” he said. “This, coupled with our constant willingness to change and to learn with and through our customers, ensures that we are the best source of advice for our partners, tailored to the needs of our target groups.

“This is where we are today and where we will continue to be – despite all changes – in the future.”

Chief financial officer Stephen Kimmich said the company had delivered on its full-year 2022 operating figures and achieved its own targets, “even exceeding them with EBIT of 22 million Euros”.

Figures for the first quarter of 2023 showed EBIT improved on the forecast by 5.3 million Euros to minus 3.2 million Euros, an increase of 62 per cent over the same quarter of the previous year. Group revenue for 2023 isforecast at around 1.3 billion Euros, with an EBIT margin of “roughly three per cent”.

Medium term revenue is expected to be around 1.8 billion Euros with EBIT of 8-9 per cent, with revenue of 1.5 billion Euros and an EBIT margin of 6-7 per cent targeted for 2025.

Kimmich, who is also M&A manager, said the recent acquisition of 49 per cent of Celmacch in the corrugated board segment, was underpinned by two further partnerships. “With our long-standing partner Sealed Air, we want to expand the boundaries of printed packaging and are delighted that the first series production press has been marketed with our joint venture Koenig & Bauer Durst.”

Kimmich added, “We are so much more than 1817, 1922 or 1988 – and we owe this not least of all to all our segments and subsidiaries, which were able to tap into new markets for the group with their specific expertise. Pooling knowledge and technologies gives us a great advantage, allowing us to identify requirements at an early stage and address them in a customer-centric approach.”

More details on the Koenig & Bauer website at www.koenig-bauer.com