Hansen will retire three months earlier than originally planned, at the end of October. He hands the top job over to Claus Bolza-Schunemann, the current deputy president who is responsible for the company's engineering and web press manufacturing.

Hansen has been at KBA for three years and the company said the 65-year-old's main achievement has been "the successful realignment of the KBA group to a smaller market volume".

Supervisory board member Dieter Rampl said: "Despite the very difficult circumstances, Helge Hansen has, with great expertise and his many years of experience, furthered the sound development of both earnings and finances at KBA and had helped to position the company group for a successful future."

The board voted unanimously to appoint Bolza-Schunemann, who represents the founding family of the company, as his successor.

Chief financial officer Axel Kaufmann will also become deputy president as well as continuing his financial remit as a result of the changes.