drupa drives Heidelberg sales

Heidelberg reports a 23 per cent increase in its incoming orders thanks to drupa.

The first quarter of the 2008-09 financial year showed an improvement for orders, which totalled 1.151 billion Euro. Bernhard Schreier, CEO, said that the news puts Heidelberg in good stead.

"Healthy incoming orders from drupa will mean better operating results in the second and third quarters than in the first three months," he said.

"The trade show enabled us to underline our position as the world leader in the industry, but difficult underlying conditions are still impacting on the current market situation. The package of measures already introduced to improve our cost structure will compensate these effects in the medium term."

Locally, Glenn Plummer, general manager, products and marketing for Heidelberg Australia and New Zealand (HAN) said that the company went into drupa with a strong order backlog and expected the tradeshow to be a good start to its financial year.

"drupa was solid for HAN," he said. "We achieved our sales target and contributed to the 23 per cent boost."

Plummer noted that the local market still continues to be "sluggish" and that many customers are reluctant to invest in new equipment when business confidence is at a seven-year low.

"The next couple of months will be a key indicator for the full year," he said. "Most importantly, HAN comes off three record years and our market shares are stable, if not slightly ahead."