For the three months to 31 December 2012 Heidelberg recorded an operating profit excluding special items of €25m (£21.3m), its best third quarter operating result since 2007/08 when it posted an €81m profit.
Much of this profit was thanks to Heidelberg Services, which returned a Q3 EBIT before special items of €21m, compared to €3m for Heidelberg Financial Services and €1m for Heidelberg Equipment.
However, the world's largest press manufacturer still faces an uphill battle to achieve its target of a "clearly positive" EBIT for 2012/13 due to the €57m loss it made in the first six months of the financial year, which included high non-recurring Drupa costs.
While its best Q3 performance since 2007/08 has narrowed the deficit to €32m, it will need to back that up with a similar Q4 performance by producing its best final quarter in five years.
Since Q4 2007/08, when Heidelberg posted a Q4 EBIT of €91m, the closest it has come to the €32m+ it needs in the current quarter to achieve its year-end EBIT target was in 2010/11 when its fourth quarter operating result came in at €30m.
Nevertheless, Heidelberg said it was still confident of reaching its full year target due to the trend towards higher sales allied with the savings from its Focus 2012 efficiency programme, which has led to the much improved Q3 operating result.
Heidelberg chief executive Gerold Linzbach said: "The financial year is going according to plan. The third quarter reflects the progress we had expected in terms of earnings.
"We are systematically moving toward our target of returning to profitability by the end of financial year 2013/14. We are on the right track."
Net sales for the nine months to 31 December were €1.9bn (Q1-Q3 2011: €1.8bn) while incoming orders were up 11.5% at €2.2bn. Order backlog was flat at €728m. EBIT for the nine months was a €32m loss, compared with a €19m loss the year before, while the pre-tax loss for the period also worsened, from €91m to €111m.
Heidelberg's net debt has increased from €273m in Q3 2011/12 to €325m in Q3 2012/13. Total headcount has fallen by 851, from 15,414 to 14,563.
