Massive sales at Drupa also took KBA's sheetfed orders during the period to 287m, an increase of 38.5%. The Dsseldorf show added 11% to MAN Roland's order intake, which rose to 232m.
MAN Roland has already put a plan in place to improve sheetfed performance, by setting up as a separate division.
"It's not fulfilling its performance criteria and we have to do something," said chief executive Gerd Finkbeiner on a recent trip to Britain. "We need to show everybody in sheetfed that we are not accepting further losses."
In the web sector, MAN Roland held its supremacy, with sales up 7% to 208m, compared to KBA's 163m. Order intake showed a similar pattern, with MAN Roland reporting a rise of 31% to 251m and KBA's figure up 29% to 205m.
As well as increasing sales overall, both companies made smaller losses than last year, in spite of the cost of Drupa.
MAN Roland's pre-tax losses for the six months were 19m, compared to 25m last year. KBA posted a pre-tax loss of 12m, against 18m in 2003.
In a statement KBA president Albrecht Bolza-Schnemann said the company had sealed "an unexpectedly large number of contracts" at Drupa.
First half results
KBA MAN Roland
m % change m % change
First half sales 360 6.7% 459 1%
Pre-tax loss 12 -30.5% 19 -21.6%
Sheetfed sales 196 7.7% 191 -1%
Story by Josh Brooks
