PACKAGING DRIVES HEIDELBERG SALES

Heidelberg’s press sales for the first three quarters of its financial year are steady compared with last year, with its EBITDA up by eight per cent, in what the company said was a weakened market.

Revenue reached €1.69bn in the nine months, thanks primarily to growth in packaging press sales, the figure in line with the previous corresponding period after currency fluctuations are taken into account.

The company’s EBITDA at €135m is €10m higher than the same period last time. Net profit after tax was down by €20m to €34m, which the company attributed to higher tax and pension costs.

“In the first three quarters of the financial year, Heidelberg has held its own in a weak macroeconomic climate. The development of sales and EBITDA is within the expected range,” said Heidelberg CEO Dr Ludwin Monz.

Following a good first half-year, incoming orders in the third quarter of the financial year reflected the economic climate and were “significantly weaker”, down 19.4 per cent year-on-year at €630m. Heidelberg says it is actively countering the weaker market development by initiating measures that will have a financial impact, and says in the light of lower incoming orders it has been implementing short-time working in parts of its operations at several production sites since January.

Heidelberg says that besides the weaker economic climate some customers are waiting for interest rates to drop in the short term, and others for innovations at drupa which starts in May. Those innovations will include a Speedmaster XL16 running at 21,000sph.

“Heidelberg is facing up to the changed underlying conditions, acting quickly to counter rising costs and the weaker order situation. The value creation programme will already make a positive contribution to free cash flow amounting to around €60m in this financial year,” said CFO Tania von der Goltz.

The company is still expecting sales in financial year 2023/2024 to match the previous year’s figure of €2.435bn. The adjusted EBITDA margin is also anticipated to remain at the previous year’s 7.2 per cent level.