HEIDELBERG continues growth, with significant improvement in sales and result for first half-year

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (HEIDELBERG) continued its strong start to the year in the second quarter and has significantly improved its sales and result for the first half-year. Partly due to the exchange rate situation, for instance, sales climbed to €590 million in the second quarter (previous year: €542 million). At €1,120 million, sales for the first half-year are around 14 percent up on the previous year. The Packaging Solutions segment enjoyed particularly strong growth, from a modest €415 million in the previous year to €535 million. Due to the higher sales, EBITDA improved to €68 million in the second quarter. This far exceeded the previous year’s figure of €38 million, which was adjusted for non-recurring income (unadjusted figure: €60 million). A better price quality of sales that countered the substantial increases in the costs of raw materials and intermediate products also contributed to the higher EBITDA, which reached €104 million for the half-year (previous year’s (unadjusted) figure: €75 million). The net result after taxes after six months climbed from €13 million to €44 million, increasing from €27 million to €39 million in the second quarter. Just six months into the year, this exceeds the level for the whole of the previous year.

In the second quarter, incoming orders also continued rising, to some €622 million (up 5 percent). This was supported by currency effects, and by high demand from Central Europe and North America. Half-year incoming orders reached a level of €1,229 million, as a result of which the order backlog is above €1 billion for the first time in years. This high order backlog and the half-year figures create an excellent basis to achieve the targets for the year as a whole. In the second half-year, however, HEIDELBERG is expecting further increases in personnel and energy costs in particular.

“Despite a difficult environment, we have successfully overcome the challenges in the first half-year and achieved further growth. We remain cautious, though, because it’s not yet entirely clear how the global situation will develop,” said the company’s CEO, Dr. Ludwin Monz. “During the first half-year, HEIDELBERG has laid a good foundation for achieving our financial targets. With this in mind, we are focusing on maintaining our supply chains, safeguarding our margin through higher sales prices, and continuing our cost discipline,” he added.