Heidelberg has declared that it has achieved goals for the 2023/2024 financial year. The preliminary results are published in the run up to Drupa with engineers erecting machines in Hall 1 ready for the show. They will provide a shot of confidence should any be needed at a point that a new CEO is preparing to take over from Ludwin Monz.
The official year end figures are due for publication on 11 June, after Drupa has closed, so the announcement is devoid of detail that will be available in a few weeks.
Sales have been maintained at €2.4 billion (€2.435 billion) with free cash flow at the highest level for ten years. This has been a target of CFO Tania von der Golz who has pointed out that cash generation in recent years has depended on one-off asset sales, such as the UK headquarters in Brentford.
She says: “The resilient development of profitability and free cash flow are proof of our financial discipline and our ability to deliver reliable results even in a difficult environment. In a financial year that was characterised by a decline in orders across the industry, we achieved our targets and met our forecasts thanks to the value creation programme we initiated at an early stage.”
There are more than 250 measures under this heading, including the use of short time working for staff at the main factory.
Heidelberg did not escape the decline in orders. These have fallen 6% from the €2.43 billion reported for the 2022/2023 financial year. The company says that the fourth quarter brought in orders of €600 million led by China and other parts of Asia. Q3 orders had been weak at €508 million. It provides a platform for the Q1 of the financial year that started in April and includes Drupa.
Monz will be succeeded by Jurgen Otto on 1 July ahead of the AGM on the 25 of the month. He signs off saying: “We were able to achieve our financial year targets in a difficult economic environment. Heidelberg’s financial performance was solid. Our value creation programme is an important building block in positioning Heidelberg for the future.”
