Market conditions worsened considerably for Heidelberg in financial year 2007/2008, with sales, operating result and net profit all down on the previous year's levels.
"Poorer economic prospects have taken their toll over the past financial year, in particular during the second six months," stated Heidelberg ceo Bernhard Schreier. "This has led to a reluctance to invest in a number of regions."
The company expects no market improvement for the current financial year 2008/2009. With drupa still to come, it is difficult to predict how sales for financial year 2008/2009 will develop. So, Heidelberg will publish its sales forecast for the current financial year at the beginning of August with its figures for the first quarter.
However, it is expected that sales for the first quarter will be down on the previous year's figure, and that the operating result will be negative.
Preliminary sales by the Heidelberg Group for the year as a whole totaled €3.670B, 3.5 per cent down on the previous year's figure (€3.803B). Preliminary incoming orders in the financial year just closed amounted to €3.649B, around five per cent down (€3.853B).
In the EMEA, North America, Latin America, and Asia/Pacific regions, sales and incoming orders either matched the previous year's level or fell below it. The only significant rise was in Eastern Europe, particularly in Russia. It was a different story for the Asia/Pacific region where, despite the recovery in the Chinese market, the figures fell below the previous year due to the extremely unfavorable currency situation for European suppliers in Japan. Incoming orders slackened off in North America, in particular in the second half of the year.
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