Manroland Sheetfed recently communicated upbeat news, but the 33% drop in backlog compared to 2015 suggests that orders dropped from Euro 323 million to below Euro 290 million in the DRUPA year, about half of what Heidelberg typically books in a quarter.
Heidelberg's equipment segment saw quite a bump at DRUPA, but the next two quarters were business as usual, at best. The chart below compares quarterly orders for equipment and services.
KBA's fourth quarter results are not yet available, but comparing the last four quarters at the end of Q3 with the same period a year earlier, sheetfed and web orders dropped some Euro 90 million each, or 15% for sheetfed and 41% for web orders, another sign that the market was challenging in 2016. Once the full year numbers become available I will update the overall comparison of the major offset players.