While Heidelberg posted a loss of €129m for the 2010-11 financial year – compared to a loss of €229m the year before – the press giant has reported significant improvements in incoming orders and sales for the period, which indicate the company is heading back into the black.
At a total of €2.757bn, incoming orders were up around 16 per cent on the previous year's figure of €2.371bn. Some €140m of this increase was linked to exchange rate movements. Meanwhile, sales climbed by around 14 per cent to €2.629bn compared with €2.306bn the year before.
Bernhard Schreier, CEO of Heidelberg says, "We achieved our targets in financial year 2010-11 and Heidelberg is now back on a growth path. This once again proves that we have adopted the right strategy - competitive products and services, a strong presence on emerging markets, a commitment to less cyclical areas such as services and consumables, and an expansion of business with packaging print shops.
“We will continue to systematically implement this successful strategy during the current financial year and gradually build up to our medium-term target of sales exceeding €3bn and a return on sales of more than 5 per cent.”
The company’s operating result also improved significantly due to higher profit contributions and the savings made during the financial year. The result of operating activities excluding special items rose to €4m at the end of the financial year compared with a loss of €130m the year before.
Due to the afore mentioned loss of €129m, a proposal will be put to the Annual General Meeting not to pay a dividend for the year under review.
Also commenting, Dirk Kaliebe, chief financial officer at Heidelberg says the company has once again secured its medium- to long-term financing and diversified its financing sources.
He says, “Thanks to our comprehensive cost-cutting measures, we have also further reduced the operating break-even threshold as planned. This will significantly improve our earnings situation in the future, too.”