Scully, 47, who joined KBA in 2004, has been area sales manager for the South West region for six years, and director for Key Accounts at the wholly-owned UK & Ireland subsidiary of the Koenig & Bauer Group for two years.

Nixon left KBA shortly before Drupa last year, after working for the press supplier for eight years. The company statement announcing his departure said he was leaving due to "conflicting interpretation of strategic vision".

KBA UK managing director Christian Knapp took over Nixon’s responsibilities for the interim period.

Scully said his appointment was an exciting opportunity because many print organisations were ready to upgrade their pressrooms. "The challenge for us, as a team, is to explain the financial, operational and quality benefits of the innovations demonstrated throughout our range at Drupa… if we can do that, KBA (UK) Ltd. will experience its best sales year to date," he said.

Knapp told PrintWeek that KBA had considered external candidates for the role, but after carefully evaluating Scully’s performance since Drupa, had decided he was the best choice.

Asked about the current performance of the UK sheetfed market, Knapp said different segments were performing in different ways. "I think there are very good opportunities in several segments," he said. "Some are still under pressure. The magazine segment has improved a bit."

He said KBA had been lucky that it had had very few cancellations on orders from last year’s Drupa compared to the previous Drupa. "We now need to think about the next orders," he said.