Just been re-reading Heidelberg's post-drupa announcement about the amount of sales it made at the show.

When I first looked at this announcement I had to do a double-take at the figure of 550 sheetfed presses sold. A colleague queried the subsequent story: "Presses? Are you sure it's not units?" But presses it most definitely is. That's a lot of Speedmasters, equivalent to half of Heidelberg's entire order volume in the prior year. 

Despite the fact that Heidelberg had downsized its drupa presence to 'merely' the one hall, it remained the largest single exhibitor at the show and I don't think it's possible to overestimate the importance of the event in terms of securing a pipeline of orders to keep its foundry and factories busy.

One could seriously consider it a make-or-break drupa for our largest manufacturer of conventional printing presses. Let's not forget that just a few weeks prior to the show Heidelberg announced a further 1,500 jobs would go as part of its ongoing efforts to right-size the business, following the dramatic fall-off in new machinery volumes since the last drupa in 2008.

Prior to drupa I asked chief Bernhard Schreier what the measures of success at the show would be for the company, given the huge amount of money it invests in exhibiting. He said the overall goal "is always to sell as much as possible" against a clear sales target, but he also cautioned that while drupa should be a booster for order intake, it would be challenged by the weak economic environment in various key markets.

Now the numbers are in and the official verdict is that expectations have been more than satisfied. Great news!

Yet Heidelberg's share price barely moved at this upbeat announcement. In fact, the shares have sunk to a new low for this year of just ?1.21.

For whatever reason, the City remains unconvinced.