manroland says it expects to make an operating profit (EBIT) of 52 million Euro (A$103 million) despite the difficult economic climate and a clear deterioration in the business situation in the second half of 2008. Last year's result had been 125 million Euro. Preliminary figures indicate a return on capital employed of almost 20 per cent. Sales last year dropped by 11 per cent to 1,727 million Euro, with exports accounting for 80 percent. At the same time, manroland further expanded its service business, contributing to an EBIT margin of three per cent. The company booked 21 per cent fewer orders than in the previous year and order intake declined to 1,396 million Euro. It starts the current fiscal year with an order backlog of 701 million Euro. “2008 was a difficult year for manroland and the entire industry," executive chairman Gerd Finkbeiner says. "However, the crucial challenges are yet to come. The package of measures we implemented in January 2009 to safeguard our future as well as our marketing campaign will make a big contribution to us coming out of the crisis stronger than before." Measures include trimming 625 jobs in indirect functions at production sites to be completed by mid 2010. In addition, the Mainhausen factory will be closed and the product lines assembled there will be integrated into the main sheetfed press factory in Offenbach. Programmes to enchance efficieny have alrerady been implemented in the the global sales and service organisation. At the same time, a marketing campaign was launched around expansion of the services and system components business, as well as placement of leading products including autoprint for fully automated newspaper production.