Heidelberg’s preliminary calculations for its last financial year, ending 31 March 2014, show the press manufacturer to have made a net profit of around €4 million, following five years of losses including last year’s result of €-117 million.
Announcing the results, Heidelberg CEO Gerold Linzbach commented: “Despite the weak sales situation, we have significantly improved our company’s profitability. This impressive achievement lays the foundation for further positive developments at the company.”
There was a fall in Group sales from the previous year’s figure of €2.735 billion to €2.43 billion (€2.54 billion after adjustment for exchange rate movements), which Heidelberg put down to exchange rate movements. However, other factors helped, such as EBITDA excluding special items, which rose to €143 million over the previous year’s €80 million). In addition, operating activities ( EBIT) excluding special items climbed to €72 million over the twelve-month period, from € -3 million in the previous year.
Heidelberg reported a healthy cash flow while a reduction in the working capital compensated for payments of some €95 million for the Focus efficiency program and produced a positive free cash flow of around € 20 million. This reduced the net financial debt at the end of the financial year to roughly €240 million from last year’s €261 million).
Linzbach said that the company would optimise its portfolio, adding: “Our medium-term target of achieving an EBITDA margin of at least 8 percent remains unchanged.”
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