With Q1 sales down due to reluctance to buy ahead of drupa, HEIDELBERG starts 2024/2025 expecting strong second half-year with high order backlog.
HEIDELBERG has started the new financial year 2024/2025 with strong growth in incoming orders. Riding on a highly successful drupa that concluded recently, the technology company’s incoming orders in the first three months (April-June’24) surpassed expectations and previous year figure of € 591 million to come at € 701 million. Additionally, a strong order value – the best since 2016 – forms a strong basis for the entire financial year. The company has a high order backlog of € 923 million. Heidelberg saw a strong 25% increase in its European market and 30% in the Americas. Growth was weaker in Asia with 3%.
“The strong recovery in our order intake allows us to look to the full financial year with great confidence,” said Jürgen Otto, CEO of HEIDELBERG. “The pleasing order backlog from the drupa trade fair will lead to rising sales in the following quarters compared to Q1. At the same time, we are working on our cost situation and personnel costs, which are generally too high.”
Sales in the first quarter for Heidelberg stood at € 403 million (down from previous year’s € 544 million). It was largely attributed to the industry’s reluctance to invest ahead of drupa. The EBITDA fell by around € 51 million to € –9 million compared to the corresponding period previous year. The company attributes the negative free cash flow (at € –103 million, down from € –27 million previous year) to the quarterly loss, the increase in inventories due to high order intake and seasonal effects.
“HEIDELBERG felt the after-effects of the slump in orders from the third quarter of 2023/2024 in the first quarter,” said Tania von der Goltz, CFO. “Despite the expected improvements in sales and earnings in the second half of the year, we will continue to work on our costs and efficiency. We expect to achieve the previous year’s result in the current year.”
In the Print Solutions segment in particular, HEIDELBERG recorded strong drupa-related growth in incoming orders of around 21 percent. In contrast, sales declined by around 23% from April to June due to the low order intake in the third quarter of the previous year. Incoming orders in the Packaging Solutions segment improved by 17 percent, while sales in this segment fell by 29 percent.
Against the backdrop of strong order intake, HEIDELBERG has confirmed the forecast for the 2024/2025 financial year. It expects stable earnings development with sales remaining the same.
