In a statement the company said that the eurozone crisis had damaged investor appetite and that, while incoming orders for the quarter are expected to come in at around €668m (up from €650m the previous year), demand varied greatly between regions. China and Latin America showed positive signs, while the US, Japan and mediterranean countries proved challenging.

Sales for the quarter are expected to be in the region of €636m (yoy €633m) generating an operating result (excluding special items) of €5m (yoy €6m loss).

However, the outlook for the second half of the year looks less robust with German engineering federation VDMA saying incoming orders throughout the print and paper industry have already dropped 10% between June and August this year.

Despite tantalising shareholders with the prospect of a breakeven year for 2011/12 for most of this year, Heidelberg has lowered its forecast and claims "the target of a break-even pre-tax result is unlikely to be achieved".

UK managing director Gerard Heanue said that the UK situation was "similar to the group’s outlook at the moment".

Even so, the company is pushing through measures to improve its operating results,  in "non personnel costs and the human resources area" and while hopes of a break-even pre-tax result may have vanished, it said it expects operating results to be "noticeably better".

The final figures for the second quarter will be published 8 November.

Shares were trading at €1.40 at the time of writing.