Manroland Sheetfed was acquired by Langley in 2012 and is now the group’s largest division in revenue and employee terms. It had sales of €288.2m (£215.8m) in 2014, according to the group’s latest accounts.
Although this is down from a 2013 revenue of €315.2m, group chairman Tony Langley said in his review of the business that the division made a €15m contribution to the group’s profits, up from €10m last year.
Langley said that the group's divisions had performed in line with, or ahead of, expectations and attributed Manroland Sheetfed’s revenue drop to “a cooling of demand from the Chinese market”.
He said: “Over the last decade or so China has been a booming market for the printing press builders and consequently the market has reached near saturation. In 2014 demand dropped sharply and Manroland China was restructured to meet this.
“It remains to be seen whether demand will return to historic levels but in the meantime the subsidiary is correctly structured."
Heidelberg also cited a slowdown in sales to China in its Q3 results published earlier this week.
Langley noted that other markets serviced by Manroland’s subsidiaries worldwide performed better and that the US, the division’s second largest market after China, exceeded plan.
Furthermore, Langley said that €22m of his original investment in Manroland has now been repaid to the group although the original purchase price remains undisclosed.
The group as a whole, which encompasses a number of other engineering divisions, made a profit before tax of €100.6m on revenues of €779.4m. This figure is up from a pre-tax profit of €91.4m in 2013 though sales fell from €833.9m.
In his concluding remarks Langley said: “In my reviews last year and the year prior to that I was expecting a down turn. In revenue terms that materialised but the result was robust, albeit bolstered by a number of one off gains.
“Demand for our companies’ products and services was also robust and 2014 was another extremely successful year for the group.
“With only minor exceptions, our businesses performed in line with, or ahead of plan and once again much credit is due to our divisional management for their achievements.
“The outlook for our group in 2015 is positive. Total orders on hand for capital equipment at the end of 2014 were €278.9m (2013: €256m) and this is a healthy enough situation.
“Whereas political and economic uncertainties may or may not impact our businesses, this has always been the case and I am confident that 2014 will be another successful year for our group.”
Langely also acknowledged the contribution made by the group's 4,000-plus employees and welcomed around 300 employees of the newly acquired DruckChemie group to the family of businesses.
DruckChemie’s figures were not included in the accounts due to the acquisition taking place on 4 November, less than two month’s before the end of Langley’s financial year.
Langley, who is sole owner of the group, maintained his personal dividend of €25m.
