Heidelberg continued its strong start to the year in the second quarter and has significantly improved its sales and result for the first half-year.
Partly due to the exchange rate situation, sales climbed to €590m in the second quarter (Q2 2021 €542m). At €1,120m, sales for the first half-year are around 14% up on the previous year.
The Packaging Solutions segment enjoyed particularly strong growth, from a modest €415m in the previous year to €535m. Due to the higher sales, EBITDA improved to €68m in the second quarter. This far exceeded the previous year’s figure of €38m, which was adjusted for non-recurring income. A better price quality of sales that countered the substantial increases in the costs of raw materials and intermediate products also contributed to the higher EBITDA, which reached €104m for the half-year (2022 (unadjusted): €75m). The net result after taxes after six months climbed from €13m to €44m, increasing from €27m to €39m in the second quarter. Just six months into the year, this exceeds the level for the whole of the previous year.
In the second quarter, incoming orders also continued rising, to some €622m (+5%). This was supported by currency effects, and by high demand from Central Europe and North America. Half-year incoming orders reached a level of €1,229m, as a result of which the order backlog is above €1bn for the first time in years.
The company stands by its forecast for financial year 2022/23 and continues to expect sales figures to increase to around €2.3bn (2021/22: €2.183bn), provided there is no significant downturn in the general economic environment. Despite the cost increases that can be expected, profitability is also set to improve further in the second half-year.
