Q2 (1 July to 30 September 2016) net result after tax was far brighter than at the same time last year, up at €9m (£7.9m) for the quarter, compared with -€9m for the same period last year. Although the half-year result stands at -€28m.
Net sales were up to €586m, an increase of €100m on Q1’s sales but a fall of €13m on last year’s Q2 figure.
A strong Drupa order book meant incoming orders for the first six months were up 6% on the previous year’s figure, rising from €1.3bn to €1.4bn. Order backlog was 19% higher than the the previous year.
A spokesman for Heidelberg told PrintWeek: “We had very positive feedback from Drupa about Heidelberg and this was well received by customers and under the motto ‘smart print shop’, which is really unique in the industry and opens up market potential for us.
“Q1 was hit by the negative ‘Drupa effect’, which means low investments just before and of course the cost of Drupa but you can see the first benefits of the Drupa success, with higher sales and higher operating profit, and this is what we expect for the second half of the fiscal year.
“With regards to targets in digital printing, we are well on track to get a mid-term revenue of at least 10% generated from digital.”
The first Drupa-launched Primefire 106 B1 inkjet press to be sold will be installed by the end of this year.
It also announced new partnerships with cloud-based services PTC and USU to “enhance its service offerings”.
The spokesman said: “If you have more than 10,000 machines connected you need the capabilities to store and analyse the data and get the right data for your customers."
Chief financial officer Dirk Kaliebe said the company anticipates the second half of the year will bring a considerable improvement in sales.
EBITDA excluding special items for the quarter rose by a third from last year’s figure to €44m. After the first two quarters however, EBITDA figures are still down on the previous year, which was mainly due to a €10m Drupa spend and a positive non-recurring effect of €19m from last year’s acquisition of consumables supplier PSG.
The group’s equity dropped to €126m as of 30 September, which was primarily put down to the reduction in the discount rate for pensions in Germany. Net financial debt was €276m, a fall of €5m from the debt figure at the start of Q1.
Earnings per share were up from -€0.03 in Q1 to €0.03 in Q2.
Heidelberg recently announced that its new chief executive, former EBM Papst chairman Rainer Hundsdörfer, would be officially replacing the incumbent Gerold Linzbach on 14 November.
It is looking for a “moderate increase” in its net result after taxes at the end of this financial year and is still aiming for growth in sales of 4% per year, which would take sales total at the end of the financial year to around €3bn.
