In the three months to 30 June incoming orders rocketed by 89% to €652m (£555m), helped by the firm’s strong performance in the crucial Chinese market with a raft of orders taken at China Print in June. 

“Given the marked uptick in demand – especially for innovative new products such as the Speedmaster CX 104 universal press – Heidelberg is convinced it can continue building on the company’s market-leading position in China, the world’s number one growth market,” the company stated. 

Q1 sales increased from €330m to €441m year-on-year, while the order backlog grew to €840m from €605m.

EBITDA was down from €40m to €15m, with the prior year figure boosted by a number of one-off gains. 

The pre-tax loss for the quarter was €12m (2020/21 profit: €6m) 

“There was a significant improvement in the quality of earnings compared with the corresponding period of the previous year,” the firm said. 

Heidelberg has been using its new segment structure: Print Solutions, Packaging Solutions, and Technology Solutions since 1 April.  

The business expects to achieve sales of around €2bn for the full year (2020/21: €1.913bn). 

Heidelberg has already said that it expects to make further gains from asset sales in financial year 2021/22. 

“Following significant losses in previous years, Heidelberg is expecting a slightly positive net result after taxes in FY 2021/22 – despite the fact that sales are still predicted to be significantly below pre-crisis levels,” it noted.

CEO Rainer Hundsdörfer commented: “As demonstrated by our encouraging initial quarter of financial year 2021/22, Heidelberg is really delivering! 

“Buoyed by the global economic recovery and the notable improvement in operating profitability, we are also very optimistic about meeting the targets announced for the year as a whole,” he said.

Heidelberg shares slipped by 4% to €1.86 following the announcement.