Sales in the six months to 30 June were up 3.1% to €517.8m (£412m), and the press manufacturer posted an operating profit of €3.8m compared with last year’s €4.9m operating loss.

Sales grew at both its divisions. Sheetfed offset presses increased 4.3% to €257.4m, and the web and special presses operation was up 2% to €260.4m. Sheetfed returned to the black with a €1.5m operating profit, a big turnaround from 2013’s €9.4m loss.

Restructuring costs at web and special presses resulted in a drop in operating profits to €2.3m (2013: €4.5m).

However, despite "disappointing" web press sales, order intake for web and special presses jumped 10.7% to €166.9m on the back of new orders for banknote presses and for its KBA Metronic line of specialist coding kit, as well as from the acquired specialist packaging printing businesses Flexotecnica and Kammann.

Order intake for sheetfed presses slipped 1.6% to €289.1m.

Sales in Europe, excluding Germany where domestic sales were down 13%, jumped by almost €80m to €209.4m and now account for 40% of group sales.

KBA UK managing director Andy Pang described the performance in the UK as “encouraging”. “Overall we’re seeing a genuine improvement, things are more positive out there now,” he said.

“We are seeing a lot more interest from credible customers with money to invest.”

The full benefits of KBA’s group-wide Fit@All restructuring programme, implemented at the beginning of the year, are expected to show in the second half. It will involve between 1,100-1,500 jobs going across the group.

The number of worldwide employees at the half-year was 6,110. This is expected to fall to below 5,000 by the year-end.

Costs associated with Fit@All staff cuts affected cashflow at the business, along with the impact of lower customer pre-payments. However, despite negative cashflow of -€33.7m in the period, KBA said its net financial position was “clearly positive” at €120.1m.

At the EBT level (earnings before taxes) the group almost broke even, with a small loss of €100,000 (2013 negative EBT: €8.8m). The net loss for the period was €3.4m, an improvement on last year's €10.6m net loss. 

Chief executive Claus Bolza-Schunemann reiterated his ambition for KBA to hit sales of over €1bn for the year, despite the unstable environment caused by ongoing conflicts in some regions, sanctions against Russia, and the Ukraine crisis.