The German press giant said it has started the year with a "leaner and more efficient organisation", but that it would cut 450 administrative and sales jobs along with 400 staff at its Wiesloch/Walldorf manufacturing site.

Heidelberg said the job cuts would help reduce annual costs by €60m in 2010/11 and by €80m from 2011/12.

The job cuts are expected to result in restructuring costs of €30m in the current financial year (to 31 March 2010) and €20m in its 2010/11 financial year.

As part of the restructuring programme that was announced in 2009, the business will now be split into the Heidelberg equipment, Heidelberg Services and Heidelberg Financial Services divisions.

Heidelberg said that the "slight upward trend" in the print industry had continued over recent months, but that there was no prospect of a significant increase in spending in 2010.

Chief executive Bernhard Schreier said: "The order situation in the print media industry has stabilised over recent months.

"The higher demand is still coming mainly from emerging markets such as China and Brazil. There is no prospect of a significant increase in the industry's investment volume in 2010."

He added that, as a result, the level of sales at which the company achieves an operational break-even result has been lowered to less than €2.5bn. 

George Clarke, managing director of Heidelberg UK, said that while the UK has had to make some contribution, any staff redundancies that were necessary have already been made.

In February, Heidelberg claimed incoming orders had hit their highest level for more than a year in its third quarter results, although sales were still down 23% year-on-year.

It posted a pre-tax loss of €13m (£11.5m) for the three months to 31 December 2009, up from a €22m loss in Q3 2008, on revenues of €578m, down 23% year-on-year from €750m.