Very good second quarter for Heidelberg. The German manufacturer continued its growth from the beginning of the year and significantly improved its sales and earnings in the first half of the year (April 1 to September 30, 2022).
Partly due to exchange rates, revenues rose to 590 million euros in the second quarter (compared with 542 million euros in the second quarter of fiscal year 2021).
For the first half of the year, it increased by 14% over the previous year to 1,120 million euros.
+ 30% increase in sales of packaging solutions
The commercial printing (Print Solutions) and packaging (Packaging Solutions) segments increased their sales in the first half of the year.
The Packaging Solutions division grew particularly strongly from 415 million euros to 535 million euros, by almost 30 percent. The Print Solutions division increased by 3% to 566 million euros.
In the Technology Solutions division, which includes the Wallbox electric vehicle recharging business, the exceptional growth of the previous year was offset by longer delivery times for new electric cars and the end of financial support for private recharging stations in Germany. And sales fell by 24%, representing 16 million euros.
Half-year net result higher than last year's full-year result
Thanks to higher sales, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) reached 68 million euros in the second quarter (compared with 38 million euros in the same period last year). For the first half of the year, it was 104 million Euro (compared to 75 million Euro). The EBITDA margin was 9.2%.
For the first six months, net profit after tax climbed to 44 million euros (compared with 13 million), which is more than the entire previous year (33 million).
Order backlog above ?1 billion
In the second quarter, order intake also continued to rise, reaching 622 million Euro, an increase of 5%, supported by currency effects and strong demand from Central Europe and North America.
The order intake for the first half of the year amounted to 1,229 million euros, which allowed the order book to exceed one billion euros for the first time in years (compared to approximately 900 million euros for the entire previous year).
Confirmation of forecasts for fiscal year 2022/23
"Despite a difficult environment, we have managed to overcome the challenges of the first half of the year and achieve further growth. However, we remain cautious, as the development of the global situation is not yet entirely clear." says Ludwin Monz, CEO of Heidelberg. "Despite the expected cost increases, profitability should also continue to improve in the second half of the year." says the group .
Heidelberg expects the EBITDA margin to rise again to at least 8 percent (2021/22: 7.3 percent). Net income after taxes is also expected to rise slightly compared with 2021/22 (33 million euros).
Heidelberg is therefore maintaining its forecast for the 2022/23 business year. If no significant economic downturn occurs, the German group is still targeting sales of around 2.3 billion euros (compared with 2.183 billion euros in 2021/22).
