It described its slide into the red for the quarter following last year's overall profit as "a temporary glitch" citing lower than expected turnover and high materials costs.

Total sales were up 20.7% at 214m, while it made a net loss of 3.3m.  Sheetfed sales rose 16.4% to 116m and web and special presses rose 26.2% to 98.4m.

Despite this glitch president and chief executive Albrecht Bolza-Schnemann said in a statement the firm stood by its objective of posting a "substantial increase" in pre-tax earnings compared to 2004. Although he added that it was too early to provide further guidance. Last year the firm's operating profit was 13.9m. The increased profitability will come from more flexible labour agreements and higher margin products.

Sales for the year are predicted to rise 5.4% to 1.03bn. Orders will keep the firm's factories busy until "well into the last quarter", and the firm has added 131 staff to meet demand for sheetfed machines, in particular the new Rapida 105 and the firm's range of large and superlarge presses.

Story by Barney Cox