By systematically implementing its transformation, Heidelberg has further strengthened its position in the first half of the 2020/2021 financial year (April 1 to September 30, 2020). With a number of measures adopted as part of the transformation program launched this March to boost profitability, enhance competitiveness, and secure the company’s future, Heidelberg has been able to more than compensate for the negative effect on earnings caused by a significant drop in sales due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For example, the company achieved a positive EBITDA excluding restructuring result in the second quarter of the current financial year, recording €97m in the first six months – an increase from the previous year (€69m). The EBITDA margin for the half-year was 12%, compared with 6.2% in the same period of the previous year. At the same time, the net financial debt was reduced from €416m in the previous year to € 157m.
In terms of sales and incoming orders, the gap compared to the previous year shrank in the second quarter of the current financial year. While sales after the first quarter were at –34%, this figure was only –24% in the period from July to September; incoming orders, meanwhile, improved from –44% to –20%. There was a positive development in demand in a number of markets, above all in the key single market China, where, compared with the previous year, the level of incoming orders increased from around –50% in the first quarter to around –8% in the second. This trend and the planned additional steps to optimise the company’s assets and portfolio and reduce staff costs provide reason to be optimistic that Heidelberg will reach its announced targets in the year as a whole and continue to achieve sustainably profitable growth in the years that follow.
At € 805m, net sales in the first half of 2020/2021 were still approximately 28% below the level recorded for the same period in the previous year (€1,124m). Incoming orders dropped by 32% to € 864m (€1,263m). On September 30, the order backlog was € 627m and thus still down on the previous year, but up by €22m on the figure recorded at the end of the previous quarter (€605m).
“Our transformation is proving successful. We are delivering on our promise. By the end of the half-year, we had drastically reduced our debt and made significant improvements regarding our liquidity and results– despite the huge challenges our organisation has faced owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides enhancing our financial stability, we are strategically positioning ourselves to meet our customers’ needs with an innovative, needs-based product and service portfolio, with our aim being to further boost incoming orders and sales. We will continue to benefit from this when the markets recover, as demonstrated by China,” says Rainer Hundsdörfer, CEO of Heidelberg.
