Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) has started the new 2017/18 financial year (April 1 to June 30, 2017) with an increase in sales and earnings and is on course to achieve its annual targets. “We are making good progress in transforming Heidelberg into a digital company,” said Rainer Hundsdörfer, CEO of Heidelberg. “We have already had initial successes in the first quarter, thanks to our new digital presses and two constructive acquisitions. We want to become even faster and more efficient in the future and are continuing to reconfigure company structures to that end.”
Net sales and the net result in the first quarter of the year under review improved over the same quarter of the previous year. Sales rose compared to the previous year, reaching €495 million (same quarter of previous year: €486 million). This was attributable primarily to Western Europe and China. As anticipated, at €629 million, incoming orders were below those of the same quarter of the previous year (€804 million) which saw a particularly high level of incoming orders from the drupa trade show. The order backlog increased by over 20 percent from €497 million at the end of the financial year to €603 million as at June 30, 2017.
Profitability, as expressed in EBITDA and EBIT, increased in the quarter under review compared to the previous year’s values. At €14 million, EBITDA was far better than in the same quarter of the previous year (€1 million), while EBIT amounted to €–3 million (previous year: €–16 million). Due to lower financing costs, the financial result improved to €–13 million (same quarter of previous year: €–16 million). Including income taxes, the net result after taxes of €–16 million was a significant improvement over the previous year’s figure (€–37 million).
