Heidelberg’s share price has soared on the back of news that the group has expanded into the defence industry through a new partnership with German specialist – Vincorion Advanced Systems, while sales at its core business were also up in the first quarter of 2025.
Last year, Heidelberg flagged its ambitions to further expand the use of its manufacturing and Research and Development (R&D) expertise at Wiesloch beyond print, and subsequently named military systems as a potential market, as well as agriculture and green energy. Heidelberg’s expertise includes control and power electronics, where it will develop, industrialise, and build power control and distribution systems for Vincorion. Heidelberg’s agreement with Vincorion is a multi-year cooperation, which could also be expanded in the future.
Consequently, Heidelberg’s share price jumped on the news, rising from €1.59 to a new 52-week high of €2.81. It once settled at €2.38 (almost 50% increase), with market capitalisation also jumping to €738.36m as a result. This comes as Heidelberg continues to celebrate its 175 years in business this year.
© Heidelberg CEO Jürgen Otto
Heidelberg CEO – Jürgen Otto said the group aimed to become increasingly established as a reliable partner in security-relevant areas. “The partnership with Vincorion marks a milestone for Heidelberg and emphasises our technology company’s ability to industrialise complex products efficiently,” he said, noting further that; “Our combination of technological expertise and reliable production in Germany is an important step toward greater technological independence and a stronger industrial base.”
HEIDELBERG ACQUIRES POLAR MOHR BRAND RIGHTS AND TECHNOLOGY
© The POLAR LabelSystem DC-12 RAPID stands for the highly automated, unmanned inline production of bundled die-cut and cut labels.
Strengthening its position in packaging, Heidelberg has come to an arrangement with the Polar Group companies to acquire the technology, intellectual property (IP), and brand rights of this long-standing partner.
Though Heidelberg has already been responsible for sales and service of Polar Mohr products in many major markets worldwide, once the transaction is concluded, Heidelberg will have exclusive worldwide sales, service, and marketing rights for Polar’s post-press products, which Heidelberg said would give it direct access to packaging markets in the growth regions of Asia, South America and the Middle East.
Dating back to the 1950s, the partnership between Heidelberg and Polar Mohr has proved extremely successful for both businesses. Polar Mohr develops and manufactures the systems, while Heidelberg has been responsible for large parts of the sales and service activities. On completion of the transaction, this responsibility will become global and exclusive. Heidelberg offers postpress systems from Polar Mohr as an integral part of its solutions portfolio. The focus is on automation, digitalization, and workflow integration, with a view to boosting the productivity of customers’ value chains in packaging and label production. The product range includes components and systems that link up and automate all processes – from loading, jogging, cutting, and die cutting through to unloading and banding.
Commenting on the deal, Jürgen Otto said: “This acquisition underscores our credentials as a full-range supplier for our customers in the packaging and label industry, including service, and gives us exclusivity in a growing market. As a systems integrator, we cover the entire value chain of a packaging print shop – on a fully integrated and networked basis – to ensure production is highly productive. Polar Mohr systems play a key role in this context.”
© With the POLAR AirGo Jog, the edge-precise alignment of individual sheets of paper or cardboard to form layers before cutting is fully automatic.
Aside the well-known Polar cutting systems, Polar Mohr also makes pile turners, jogging systems, and post-press systems for the label industry. This includes the LabelSystem DC-12 Rapid, an automated system for the unmanned production of bundled die-cut and cut labels. It also has a range of nearline solutions targeted at the digital market and cutting on demand.
