Heidelberg is enjoying the fruits of recovery as confidence returns with the ebbing of the Covid-19 pandemic. After nine months incoming orders in 2021/22 are a third higher than the same nine months in 2020/21 with the effect that Heidelberg has edged up forecasts for the end of the year. The company expects to report sales of €2.1 billion at the end of March, up from the €2.0 billion it had previously forecast.
It means that Rainer Hundsdörfer can bow out as CEO with the company on a firmer footing than when he arrived, although the business has become smaller.
The impact of that shrinkage, selling the UK headquarters property, further land in Wiesloch and Docufy have brought in cash for the business, helping Ebitda after nine months to reach €132 million and to edge much closer to the point where net financial debt has been eliminated.
The pick up in business has lifted incline orders by 16% in the quarter and pushed the order backlog out to €951 million which it says is higher than pre pandemic levels. However, the order intake surely includes the impact of business that had been postponed from previous periods, so it will take further quarters before any kind of normality can be said to have returned.
That normality in any case will be different. The focus for the future is on profitable growth areas in packaging, digital business models and in China, with a nice side hustle in electro mobility, ie domestic charging boxes, which Heidelberg, in collaboration with SAP, is in position to take outside of Germany.
Looking further ahead the company anticipates great things from printed electronics. It is also in position to expand usage based subscription models (pay as you print) following a deal announced in November with Munich Re.
Hundsdörfer says: “The success of our efforts to transform Heidelberg is becoming ever clearer. Our core business is doing well thanks to our high level of innovation and our focus on customer benefits, and our digital business models are making a key contribution, too.
“Overall, we are well positioned for the future. Moreover, the healthy order backlog creates a sound basis as we look toward the start of financial year 2022/2023.”
It reckons too that it is well placed to ride out supply chain problems thanks to its longstanding emphasis on in-house production from casting to machining and design and assembly of electronic components.
