- 9M order intake grows by +16.4% to around €1bn – strongest volume since the COVID catch-up effect in 2022; order backlog over €1.1bn – highest nine-month figure since 2014
- 9M Group revenue rises against the industry trend to €866.5m (+0.7%) – book-to-bill ratio of 1.15 (previous year: 1.00) confirms operational growth momentum
- Sequential recovery: Operating Q3 EBITDA of €19.6m significantly exceeds the entire first half of 2026 and lifts the 9M result to €33.7m
- 9M free cash flow turns significantly positive at +€30.6m – targeted working capital management and high customer prepayments secure a strong Q3 figure of +€51.6m
- Both segments drive Q3 recovery: P&P consolidates its return to profitability with operating EBITDA of €8.4m (9M-26: €6.8m), S&T remains a key earnings anchor with €11.4m (9M-26: €23.2m) and a robust banknote project pipeline
- Global resilience: North America momentum cushions European investment restraint in P&P – major banknote projects drive growth in the Africa/Latin America growth region
- “IMPACT” takes effect: Successful market approach for networked end-to-end packaging production; initial mid-tech scaling successes serve as a blueprint for rollout to further model series
- Group-wide AI adoption: In-house developments such as the award-winning “worker app” for assembly reduce licensing costs in the six-figure range and increase productivity
- Outlook for 2026 confirmed: Stable Group revenue at the previous year's level (~€1.3bn) and operating EBITDA of approximately €80m forecast
Koenig & Bauer AG consistently continued its positive earnings trend in the third quarter of 2026. Customer demand outperformed the industry trend, driving the order backlog to the highest nine-month figure in twelve years. In addition, free cash flow turned significantly positive. The company confirms its full-year forecast for 2026.
“Around one billion euros in order intake marks our strongest nine-month figure since the exceptional year of 2022, when massive catch-up investments were made following the pandemic – this is an enormous vote of confidence from our customers,” says Dr Stephen Kimmich, Chief Executive Officer of Koenig & Bauer, putting the performance into context. “We are achieving this level because we are systematically strengthening our position as a system provider: in the P&P segment, we are cushioning European restraint through our strong North American business and convincing with networked end-to-end solutions. In S&T, we are benefiting from an extremely robust project pipeline at Banknote Solutions, and our ‘local-for-local’ approach is delivering initial scaling successes for mid-tech series. It is precisely this combination of strong solution expertise and global market proximity that demonstrates how our strategic framework ‘IMPACT’ is taking effect: it provides us with stability and secures our earning power.”
Order intake and revenue perform above the VDMA industry trend
After nine months, order intake recorded a strong increase of +16.4% to €997.3m (previous year: €856.8m) and was thus above the VDMA industry trend (+13.9%). Order backlog rose by +6.3% to €1,101.4m as of 30 September 2026 (previous year: €1,035.7m), securing capacity utilisation well beyond the current financial year, with a heterogeneous distribution across the segments.
Group revenue increased slightly year on year by +0.7% to €866.5m in the first nine months of 2026 (previous year: €860.9m) with a book-to-bill ratio of 1.15 (previous year: 1.00), while the VDMA reported a significant decline of -15.5% for the industry. A continuous sequential upturn in revenue was evident over the course of the year, leading to revenue of €308.3m in the third quarter. The key driver of export strength was the strong North American business, where the share of revenue rose to 29.4%. Together with the significant upturn in business in the third quarter, the P&P segment largely cushioned the current investment restraint in Germany and the rest of Europe. As a further growth region, the share of revenue in Africa/Latin America rose noticeably to 11.6%, which was mainly driven by large-scale projects at Banknote Solutions in the S&T segment.
Strong Q3 result drives intra-year recovery momentum and significant cash flow turnaround
Operating EBITDA amounted to €33.7m after nine months (previous year: €38.6m), corresponding to an operating EBITDA margin of 3.9%. The earnings performance was characterised by a clear recovery over the course of the year: at €19.6m in the third quarter, operating EBITDA noticeably exceeded the entire first half of 2026 (€14.1m). EBITDA stood at €25.2m (previous year: €33.8m) and includes planned non-operating extraordinary items of €8.5m, mainly in connection with the closure of operations at Albert-Frankenthal GmbH completed as of 31 May 2026.
A key milestone can be seen in the financial situation: on balance, free cash flow improved significantly by +€92.5m in the first nine months and turned clearly positive at +€30.6m (previous year: €-61.9m). This was supported by a strong contribution of +€51.6m in the third quarter, driven by active working capital management and high customer prepayments. At 17.4% (previous year: 26.6%), the NWC ratio was well below the target figure of a maximum of 25% of Group revenue.
Both segments support earnings trend: P&P consolidates profitability, S&T impresses with robust banknote project pipeline and mid-tech scaling
In the Paper & Packaging Sheetfed Systems (P&P) segment, the +3% price adjustment implemented as of 1 July 2026 and the sequential upturn in revenue contributed to the return to profitability. Operating EBITDA rose further to €8.4m in the third quarter (9M: €6.8m). Strategically, the segment underpins its position as a system provider: at the industry event “Executive Day”, Koenig & Bauer presented networked packaging production under the motto “Seamless. Automated. Pioneering.”. In live operation, the company demonstrated the closed end-to-end process chain under real conditions – from automated large-format printing (Rapida 145) and seamless postpress integration in die-cutting and gluing through to connected software workflows and robot-assisted material handling.
The Special & New Technologies (S&T) segment recorded a strong increase in orders of +25.7% to €471.7m. Operating EBITDA rose significantly in the first nine months to €23.2m (Q3-26: €11.4m). This momentum was driven, on the one hand, by a project pipeline at Banknote Solutions that remains extremely robust, which is also at a very high level in Europe and is additionally supported by a letter of intent (LOI) for the planning of a new printing facility in another African market. On the other hand, the MetalPrint business unit proved the successful scalability of the strategic mid-tech approach with the first sale of the new MetalKing sheet metal printing press. Tailored precisely to the cost structures of global emerging markets (“local-for-local”), this technology secures new customer groups for Koenig & Bauer and serves as a blueprint for further profitable growth.
Group-wide AI adoption: Award-winning in-house developments reduce costs and increase efficiency
Koenig & Bauer is unlocking measurable efficiency potential in the “IMPACT” action field “Intelligence”. Through targeted employee enablement and broad AI adoption, Koenig & Bauer is today generating tangible business value: with a regular usage rate of 61% and 56 use cases submitted for the internal AI Innovation Award, which was presented for the second time in October, AI is firmly anchored in the workforce. How this approach translates into practice is demonstrated by the award-winning “worker app”. Developed in a secure “vibe coding” environment by employees in the Digital & Webfed division, the app replaces paper-based processes directly at the assembly workstation with digital workflows in real time and direct SAP posting. This results in annual licence cost savings in the six-figure range and weekly time savings of more than one hour per employee on the shop floor. “For us, artificial intelligence has long ceased to be a topic for the future: we do not discuss potential, we implement it – with a measurable impact on the cost side,” Chief Financial Officer Dr Alexander Blum sums up, adding: “When employees develop their own solutions like the ’worker app’, technology feeds directly through to the operating result. In this way, we reduce assembly workload, reduce costs, and ensure that our investments in digitisation pay off swiftly.”
Outlook for 2026: Koenig & Bauer confirms full-year forecast in a demanding market environment
Despite the volatile macroeconomic environment, Koenig & Bauer expects a continuation of operational stability for the 2026 financial year. Subject to the condition that framework conditions remain stable, the company confirms its forecast of Group revenue at the previous year's level (approximately €1.3bn) and an operating EBITDA of approximately €80m.
“With operating EBITDA of €33.7m after nine months, we are admittedly still behind the previous year, but the strong performance in the third quarter demonstrates our operational momentum – supported by encouraging project contributions from various business units in the S&T segment”, explains Chief Financial Officer Dr Alexander Blum. “The fact that we turned free cash flow positive, reaching more than 30 million euros – mainly driven by targeted working capital management and high customer prepayments – noticeably strengthens our financial stability. In addition, we are working with discipline on our internal processes: the first practical successes in the ‘Intelligence’ action field prove that we are also unlocking new efficiency potential on the shop floor. Our order backlog of over 1.1 billion euros is the solid foundation on which we build. We have created all the prerequisites to achieve our full-year targets for 2026 in an ambitious final quarter.”
The statement for the third quarter of 2026 is available as a PDF download here.