The company said orders for the year jumped a massive 45.4% to EUR 1.3bn split fairly evenly between sheetfed presses, which increased a third, and web and special presses, which increased nearly 60% year-on-year.

Express Newspapers' mammoth press order is included in the order backlog numbers, although will only be included in sales figures for 2011.

Sales for the year came in at EUR 1.17bn, up 12.3%, and the company posted a net profit of EUR 12.5m, nearly twice the previous year's EUR 6.6m, with the company proposing a 30-cent dividend.

However, chief executive Helge Hansen was stoic about the results. "Last year’s growth rates were high partly because they followed exceptionally poor prior-year figures, and are therefore unlikely to be repeated on this scale. For 2011, we are targeting a moderate increase in sales and earnings, with both divisions contributing their share."
 
However, he was unwilling to offer further guidance given current market volatility.

Despite a revival in domestic sales, KBA's export levels hit a historic high of nearly 90%, with Asia and Pacific sales surpassing Europe sales for the first time, with particular strong demand in China. Africa also grew its share to more than 20% while the US fell back to 10%.

In the UK, managing director Christian Knapp described the market as 'flat', adding: "Given the current state of the economy, 2011 looks like it will still be pretty challenging for most printers".

However, he was happy with the UK numbers. "We made a profit in the UK, both pre- and after tax," said Knapp. "Performance-wise, we have stabilised to around 2009 levels in terms of turnover, but we made more money."