Overall sales for 2004 grew 15% year-on-year to 977m (e1,423m), the group's highest ever annual sales figure, beating the 960m target that the board had set the firm.

The German press giant posted an operating profit of 13.9m, a major improvement on 2003's 1.3m loss.

Order intake also grew by 16% in the year to 1bn, largely thanks to the launch of the new Rapida 105 at Drupa and major contracts for gravure presses, including an order for four wide-format machines at Arvato's new plant in Liverpool.

The accounts showed that sheetfed order intake had grown from 452.5m in 2003 to 518.8m in 2004, while for web and special presses the figure rose to 482m from 408.8m in 2003.

The year brought a "slight drop" in orders for newspaper and security presses although KBA's new waterless newspaper press, the Cortina, had become "a major source of income".

Orders for the super-wide Rapida 205 sheetfed press had "exceeded all expectations". In the UK, the press is now either running or on order at three London firms: Augustus Martin, Capital Print & Display and Odessa Offset.

KBA's return to profit is also down to the successful negotiations of terms and conditions with its workforce which allowed it to drive down costs by introducing longer and more flexible working hours at its German production plants.

 "This was a major step in controlling overheads and will make us more competitive," said Bolza-Schnemann.

But he added that the firm's share price had not reflected the increase in sales, and that earning were "still not satisfactory".

He said that 2005 would bring higher earnings than the two previous years, "commensurate with our standing as an innovative press manufacturer".

Story by Josh Brooks