The ongoing corporate restructuring is also helping. The order backlog at the end of the third financial quarter at the end of December was above the level before the pandemic, the SDAX company announced on Wednesday in Heidelberg. The company has increased its sales forecast for the current 2021/2022 financial year (until the end of March) from at least two to at least 2.1 billion euros. The operating profit margin (Ebitda margin) is still expected to be in a range of 7 to 7.5 percent, with profit after taxes expected to be slightly positive.
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen is well on the way to achieving the desired growth target. At just under 1.6 billion euros, sales after nine months were more than a fifth higher than in the previous year. Before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda), a profit of 132 million euros remained. This also corresponded to an increase of 21 percent. According to the company, this improvement was mainly due to an increased volume and improved margins from the restructuring program. The bottlenecks in the availability of parts, on the other hand, remained a challenge.
Heidelberger Druck has been in a state of upheaval for more than a year. The company originally manufactured high-speed presses and printing machines and was one of the largest German mechanical engineering groups. In the future, the company will focus on packaging printing and digitization – in other words, more software automation for customers in the printing industry, among others.
In addition, the outgoing company boss, Rainer Hundsdrfer, has high hopes for recurring sales through the usage-based subscription offer. Companies pay a fixed monthly rate for the Heidelberg machines and an agreed basic print volume, so they no longer have to buy and maintain the machines in their entirety.
Hundsdrfer said in a telephone conference with journalists that he hopes that a first contract can be presented here soon. He will be handing over his office to Ludwin Monz at the start of the coming 2022/2023 financial year (from April 1). He was CEO at Carl Zeiss Meditec until the end of the year.
In addition, Heidelberger Druck is trying to gain a foothold in new business areas. This includes, for example, electromobility. The company has been selling self-developed wall boxes since 2018 – these are small systems attached to the garage wall for fast charging of electric cars. Distribution is partly via Amazon, partly in partnership with energy suppliers such as E.ON.
With the takeover of charging station technology from the energy company EnBW, products for public spaces are now also being added. The company wants to win new customers with public charging points, such as public utilities, municipalities or companies. The new columns are to be sold from the middle of this year.
Heidelberger Druck shares have been on course for almost four years
According to the company’s quarterly figures, the shares of Heidelberger Druck took the lead in the SDAX among the smaller stock exchanges on Wednesday. They temporarily increased in price by 14.17 percent to EUR 2.94 and could now head for the high of EUR 3.14 at the beginning of the year. That was the highest level in almost four years.
Despite the strained supply chains, the mechanical engineering company remains on course for recovery. The backlog at the end of the third fiscal quarter ended December was above pre-pandemic levels. The company specified the sales forecast for 2021/2022 from “at least two” to 2.1 billion euros. The operating profit margin (Ebitda margin) is still expected to be between 7 and 7.5 percent.
The printing machine manufacturer exceeded expectations across the board in the third business quarter, wrote analyst Daniel Gleim from the Stifel investment company. That and higher annual targets should go down well on the market. Above all, the expert emphasized the growth in business with charging stations for electrically powered cars. However, the sales achieved with this have so far been limited. The increased valuation of the shares is justified. Since the end of 2020, the share price had roughly quadrupled.
Peter Rothenaicher from Baader Bank spoke of strong demand and good profitability at Heidelberg. Together with a surprisingly strong increase in incoming orders, this proves the successful restructuring of the company. Rothenaicher also found words of praise for the cash generated, the net financial position in the balance sheet is almost balanced.
If you look back longer, the shares are still moving in a range between around 50 euro cents and a good 3.60 euros. The papers have been trading in this range for more than ten years, sometimes with strong swings. For comparison: the share certificates had reached a high in 2000 at more than 70 euros.
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