Representatives of the German media were apparently briefed on the press at the Printing Forum 2012 in Stuttgart last month.

According to German website www.print.de, the press uses Kyocera printheads and water-based inks and has a maximum web width of 762mm and a minimum repeat length of 203mm.

The four-colour press was said to have a print speed of around 150m/min in two-sided print mode and is aimed at the production of short runs of personalised books, magazines and commercial print.

KBA has yet to officially publish any information on the press, although it released an image alongside last week's announcement of its preliminary results for 2011.

The manufacturer said it had "bucked the industry trend" by posting a pre-tax group profit for the third year in a row, with the total coming in at the "single-digit millions".

Group sales were said to be "marginally lower" than last year's €1.2bn (£1bn), while an order backlog of more than €800m at the year end exceeded last year's €441m by over 80%.

KBA's official figures for 2011 will be published on 30 March.