Heidelberg has announced a new value creation programme alongside its year-end results, with a hint that it could return to the commercial digital printing market with its own product.
For the year ending 31 March, the top print equipment manufacturer says, it: “exceeded its targets” in what it described as a challenging year. Sales rose by 11.5% to €2.435bn compared to a target of €2.3bn, while the EBITDA margin was 8.6% against a target of “at least 8%”. The net result was €91m, a big improvement on the prior year’s figure of €33m.
However, Heidelberg also warned that the outlook for 2023/2024 would be impacted by “exceptionally challenging conditions” included increases in input costs such as materials and energy, and in personnel costs. “Heidelberg is intending to carry on compensating for this by increasing its sales prices,” the group stated.
Heidelberg’s three-pronged value creation strategy involves: improving group-wide efficiencies and synergies; increasing the amount of cash available for growth initiatives; and growing sales in areas that involve recurring, consumption-based revenues. Heidelberg also highlighted the growth opportunity for digital printing in the commercial print market. Other plans include growing new adjacent business areas that “address megatrends” and have a large market size, such as its electric vehicle charging business which is now expanding into other European countries.
Heidelberg also said that it planned to grow its packaging printing business in cartons and labels – including with new products such as the Boardmaster and Gallus One pure play inkjet label press. In 2022/23 packaging sales grew by 25%, while print solutions nudged up 4%. Packaging is close to overtaking commercial print as Heidelberg’s biggest unit, with net sales of €1,158bn compared to print solutions with €1.254bn. North America (up 32%) and EMEA (up 15%) were the strongest markets.
