Momentum in motion: "IMPACT" driven by technological substance and digital innovation inspires at the Koenig & Bauer Annual General Meeting

• Executive Board explains the operational progress and priorities of the strategic framework "IMPACT" 
• Shareholders support the company's chosen course of implementation
• "IMPACT" interlinks technology scaling, cost excellence and a decentralised AI offensive across the company
• Financial discipline and global AI offensive: "House of AI" drives operational efficiency forward – first service AI agent successfully launched in the US
• Intelligence in the autonomous factory: Live robotics at the Annual General Meeting demonstrate practical no-code automation
• Resilient start to the year: Strong order intake and billion-euro order backlog provide planning certainty against the industry trend
• Outlook for 2026 confirmed: Stable business performance expected with Group revenue at the previous year's level and operating EBITDA of approximately € 80m

Professor Dr.-Ing. Raimund Klinkner, Chair of the Supervisory Board, opened the meeting. Following the initial cinematic impressions, he addressed the shareholders and guests present, thereby setting the framework for the further course of the meeting. Professor Klinkner emphasised: “These impressions illustrate: We are bringing together our proven innovativeness and speed. Top performance and motion are essential elements here. However, motion alone is not enough. It requires a clear alignment: The six pillars of IMPACT!”.

Chief Executive Officer Dr Stephen Kimmich highlighted the structural challenges facing European mechanical engineering – from high energy and labour costs to intense competition from Asian providers. Koenig & Bauer is countering this global headwind with the unique breadth of its own portfolio, which effectively offsets market fluctuations: While a temporary investment restraint is noticeable in classic offset printing, global demand for cash in the Banknote Solutions business unit ensures high stability. In order to actively counter these prevailing conditions, the company is focusing on fundamentally strengthening its own speed of implementation.

Dr Stephen Kimmich emphatically underlined this clear course: "We are shifting our focus from mere diversification and product development to consistent implementation and measurable impact – to our new strategic framework: 'IMPACT'. I am not here to complain about uncertainties, but want to focus on our response to them: significantly higher resilience and a high level of organisational responsiveness. 'IMPACT' contains the description of an attitude: 'I ACT'. It is about implementing, shaping, simply doing. A strategy is only successful if it is translated into continuous motion and dynamics."

The shareholders in the hall experienced just how tangible this transformation already is right on site, based on Pillar I – for "Intelligence". Chief Executive Officer Dr Stephen Kimmich made it clear that the Group is holistically integrating AI and automation into its processes and products. Here, the newly agreed strategic partnership with the Munich-based robotics pioneer RobCo took centre stage.
Using innovative no-code technology, Koenig & Bauer is breaking down the barriers of classic automation: Complex, isolated industrial work steps are translated into intuitive workflows that the customers' existing staff can control entirely without specialist IT knowledge. The newly created Factory & Machine Automation unit acts as the Group-wide driver of this flexible architecture; the first customer installation is planned for the first quarter of 2027.

Two RobCo employees demonstrated the practical maturity of the software directly during the speech: While a modular robotic arm next to the stage precisely stacked a Lego building set, a second configuration in the outside area presented the flexible palletising of packages under real conditions.

Dr Stephen Kimmich also underpinned the strategy with concrete practical examples in the other fields of action:

• M – Market (Go-to-Market): Global scaling of digital printing with over 70 installed presses (platforms: RotaJET, VariJET, MetJET ONE). Expansion of flexo printing via the Würzburg demo press including the world premiere of the EasyTronic feature as well as the opening up of the e-commerce corrugated board market through the CutPRO Q 2.1 die-cutter and the modular Chroma series.
  
   
• P – People: Activation of personal initiative in the teams through the motto "I ACT" and a practical bottom-up toolkit. This is flanked by the expansion of HR Excellence on the Campus as well as the establishment of the new "U.S. Training Center" for the targeted empowerment of customers.
  
   
• A – Adaptability: Reduction of fixed costs through the scheduled closure of the Albert-Frankenthal site in May 2026. At the same time, the "Service Excellence" initiative is strengthening resilience – including through a US AI service assistant for technicians and advanced digitalisation (80% remote resolution rate in Digital & Webfed).
  
   
• C – Competitiveness: Targeted positioning in price-sensitive mid-tech markets in competition with Asian providers through the MetalKing packaging press (first sales in China/India) and the new "Prima series" from Koenig & Bauer Celmacch. In parallel, the "Add Value" programme is lowering manufacturing costs in the existing portfolio through intelligent complexity reduction and component optimisation. 
  
   
• T – Technology: Transformation into a system orchestrator – software is becoming the new "soul" of the machine. The end-to-end PrintFusion solution (with partner Hybrid Software) massively reduces makeready times. In addition, the myKyana customer portal and the "protected at print" security initiative (with Stegano) via smartphone verification lay the digital foundation for the product passport of the future.

With these central pillars, the "IMPACT" strategic framework sets the direction until 2030 and beyond in order to increase operational resilience and consistently secure the market position. Within the framework of this target vision, Koenig & Bauer sees a strategic revenue potential of € 1.5bn with an operating EBITDA margin of at least 8% (excluding special effects) in the medium term. The realisation of this potential will be driven forward by the further consistent optimisation of the Group footprint and Group structures.

Chief Financial Officer Dr Alexander Blum explained how he is driving the strategic framework "IMPACT" forward by setting consistent priorities. The focus here is on operating cash generation, strict cost management and the protection of liquidity. In view of an export ratio of 89%, Koenig & Bauer is countering global challenges such as rising freight costs and US tariff risks with proactive logistics management as well as strategic hedge accounting.

At the same time, Dr Alexander Blum made it clear that modern corporate management and future-proof IT infrastructures are inextricably interwoven. Under the umbrella of the "House of AI" strategic structural model and based on the partnership with Google, the Group is firmly establishing artificial intelligence in everyday working life. This transformation has already reached the broader workforce: 462 AI Champions and Executives have been trained as active multipliers, and around 30% of the workforce regularly use modern AI tools to specifically accelerate internal processes.

The standalone AI Agent developed for the Rapida 145 large-format press aggregates isolated data sources in real time directly at the site of operation. Koenig & Bauer is thus aiming to increase the first-time-fix rate and reduce repair times in the field by around 20% in each case, which simultaneously digitally mitigates the demographic-related loss of knowledge. The productive roll-out in the US market has already begun with around 70 technicians.

In light of volatile global supply chains, noticeable increases in transport costs and growing geopolitical trade barriers, Dr Alexander Blum emphatically underlined this proactive course: "This headwind is not an excuse, but rather our motivation for operational and financial discipline. Especially in a challenging market environment, one irrefutable principle applies: Consistently doing our homework internally in order to reliably achieve the operational targets we have set. Cost efficiency is technologically supported by the 'House of AI' and the digital transformation of internal processes."