Koenig & Bauer considers selling its coding arm

The future alignment of Koenig & Bauer Coding, the coding arm of print press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer (K&B), is currently under review following the release of the company’s Q2 figures for 2025.

K&B reported preliminary figures showing a 7.0% increase in revenue to €298.2m (£257.42m) for Q2, as well as a record order backlog of €1,096.3m (£946.38m) which is up 7.4% year-on-year.

The improvement in earnings has been seen by K&B as a sign of the positive effect of its ‘spotlight’ focus programme, which aims to strengthen the company’s profitability through group restructuring and realignment. Under this programme, the group’s project portfolio has already been significantly scaled back.

In a statement on its Q2 results, K&B says that “as a logical next step in concentrating on its core business areas, the future alignment of Koenig & Bauer Coding is currently also under review.”

The company cites limited overlap with the group’s other core business, including its industrial printing applications, as a core reasoning for the consideration, as well as K&B Coding’s status as a largely self-sufficient entity addressing a downstream market.

“Its coding systems are typically used by the bottlers and packagers themselves,” K&B explains. “In view of this different market orientation and the limited synergistic benefits within the group as a whole, the review will be considering all options for the further development of the coding business including a joint venture, a partnership, or a possible sale.”

K&B Coding currently employs around 300 people from its headquarters in Veitshöchheim, Germany. Its industrial coding technologies include solutions for inkjet and laser systems, alongside applications including food and beverages, consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and the automotive industry.

Dr Stephen Kimmich, chief executive officer of Koenig & Bauer, says: “Our coding segment is a solid and well-managed business with committed employees and good market potential, which we would like to leverage as part of its targeted further development.”

K&B also recently announced a strategic partnership with Siemens to further develop its modular machine automation system, which enables predictive maintenance models and performance dashboards to be made for individual machine components.

With the Siemens integration, builders are now able to find their optimal machine configuration through Siemens’ Teamcenter software, designed for product lifecycle management (PLM), and its NX software, tailored for product design and engineering.

The announcement came as part of K&B’s wider strategic goals to transform into a major digital solutions provider.