Heidelberg breaks its five-year long losing streak and drags a €4 million profit across the line. Preliminary results put the German offset manufacturer once more in the black, but only barely, off a turnover of €2.4 billion for the 2013/2014 financial year which also saw worldwide sales slide down 11%.
The German offset press manufacturer has racked up a staggering €946.1 million in net losses since it last reported a profit in 2008. The positive figure marks a dramatic improvement from last year's loss of €117 million and delivers on the company's primary financial targets. According to Gerold Linzbach (pictured), Heidelberg CEO, the result is a strong indicator for the future of the business.
"The big improvement in the result after tax to a net profit demonstrates the success of our strategic reorientation, even with difficult underlying conditions. This now puts us in a position to press ahead with reorganizing the company by optimizing our portfolio. Our medium-term target of achieving an EBITDA margin of at least 8% remains unchanged," said Linzbach.
Heidelberg reports that all result-related KPIs were greatly improved on the previous year's. The company's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) jumped from €80 million in 2012/2013 to €143 million, delivering a near 6% EBITDA margin.
Linzbach continues, "Heidelberg is once again making a net profit, which was our number one priority. Despite the weak sales situation, we have significantly improved our company's profitability. This impressive achievement lays the foundation for further positive developments at the company."
Prior to this announcement, the company's last recorded profit was €141.5 million off sales of €3.7 billion, for the financial year 2007/2008.