Manroland Sheetfed bounces back from administration to sell 100th press

Manroland Sheetfed has delivered its 100th press since its acquisition by Langley Holdings last February.

Head of sales Peter Conrady said the milestone "was exactly our target for 2012 under the new organisation".

"Following the restructuring that has taken place this year, the company is able to manage a small profit at this level, despite the factory only operating at less than one third its maximum capacity but with what we are seeing in the pipeline, I do expect this will increase in 2013."

However, while European and worldwide sales appear to be holding up well, the company's UK subsidiary has yet to deliver a press since its acquisition by Langley in March last year.

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Acting managing director Martin Hawley said that while the lack of any press sales in 2012 was disappointing, the company had "a strong pipeline".

"Apart from not securing a [press] sale in 2012, we were happy with the UK's performance, both with the spare parts and services business," he said.

"We had a strong end to the year and going forward into 2013 we are very, very optimistic."

Hawley said the company's presence at Drupa, just three months after being bought out of administration, had helped to restore confidence in the future of the Manroland brand as part of the Langley Group.

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This article originally appeared at printweek.com