Heidelberg shed 600 jobs in the first quarter and between April 2002 and next March it should have cut 3,200 staff. A spokesman said another decision on restructuring would be taken in October or November, adding: It depends on the situation it is not decided, but also not ruled out.
Lacking the equipment orders from a major trade show, Heidelbergs sales in the three months to 30 June fell 22.5% to 515m (e720m), while incoming orders slumped by more than 30% to 545m. Ipex took place during the corresponding period last year.
It made an operating loss of 42m, compared to a 15m profit this time last year, and a net loss of 55m (2002: 8.6m profit).
Meanwhile, Xerox reported growth in colour installations and colour revenues in the second quarter of 2003, largely due to the success of its DocuColor digital colour press range.
Although the groups net income fell 1% on the same period last year to 53m ($86m), and total revenues also fell 1% to 2.3bn, its colour revenues rose 19% to 500m.
Production equipment sales rose 11% to 177m due to strong colour equipment sales growth, particularly from the DocuColor 6060 and DocuColor iGen3.
Production colour unit installations grew 7% in the period, led by the DocuColor 6060. Xerox said around 50% of its equipment sales were generated from products launched in the last two years.
Schreier blamed Heidelbergs difficulties on weak demand in the US and Europe, particularly for sheetfed presses, although there had been the first signs of improvement in web offset and digital.
Incoming orders for sheetfed presses fell 35% to 393m amid tough competition from Japanese manufacturers benefiting from exchange rate fluctuation.
Story by John Davies and Andy Scott
