Press giant Heidelberg has posted a strong start to the financial year and says its strategic reorientation has helped to boost orders by more than €110 million in the first quarter.
Press giant Heidelberg has posted a strong start to the financial year and says its strategic reorientation has helped to boost orders by more than €110 million in the first quarter.
“As we start the new financial year, Heidelberg is well on the way to achieving its targets for the year,” said deputy CEO and CFO Dirk Kaliebe.
“Provisional calculations for the first quarter (April 1 - June 30, 2015) show that the company’s strategic reorientation is taking effect, with improvements in both sales and the result,” the company said in a press release:
A good trade show in China, additional service business as a result of the PSG takeover, and exchange rate movements have improved incoming orders to around € 700 million (previous year: € 588 million). Thanks to a healthy order backlog at the beginning of the quarter, higher service-related sales, and exchange rate movements, sales also increased – to € 560 million (previous year: € 435 million).
The operating result was much better than in the previous year. Earnings before tax were €46 million, compared to €6 million the previous year. Income from the takeover of the PSG Group totalling about €19 million has had a positive impact on these figures. This income compensated for expenditure of around €15 million resulting from partial retirement agreements concluded in the previous year. EBIT including special items thus improved on balance from €11 million to €13 million.
Heidelberg earlier this year launched a new brand identity and strategic reorientation that is focused on both digital and offset printing, as well as consumables and services. “The focus is no longer simply on equipment, but on the integrated overall process and all the requisite components,” said CEO Dr. Gerold Linzbach at the time. Heidelberg was aiming to have service and consumables make up more than 50 per cent of the business, compared to the current 40 per cent, he said.
Linzbach has been on sick leave since early in June due to an undisclosed illness and CFO Dirk Kaliebe has been appointed deputy CEO and has taken on the chief executive's duties.