The manufacturing giant released its figures for the full year to 31 March yesterday (15 June), showing net sales of €2.31bn (A$3.29bn), a year-on-year fall of 23.1% from €2.99bn to 31 March 2009.
Incoming orders felt the pinch of the troubled trading conditions. Orders were €2.37bn, down 18.4% year-on-year from €2.9bn.
The results show that the year-on-year sales decline had slowed in the fourth quarter, while incoming orders for the most recent quarter were up on Q4 2008/09.
Net sales for Q4 2009/10 were €715m, a 9.3% fall from €788m, but incoming orders for the most recent quarter were up 43% to €678m, from a low of €474 in Q4 2008/09.
Comparing figures across the four quarters of the year point to a steady improvement over the 12 months. Sales and incoming orders for the fourth-quarter were significantly higher than in any quarter over the course of 2009/10.
Asia Pacific was a beacon of positivity in the relatively glum results. It was the only region to report a full-year net sales increase, up 0.6% year-on-year. Asia Pacific also showed a disproportionate growth in terms of incoming orders, up 17.6% to €770m, while all other regions reported negative growth.
According to Heidelberg, order volumes in China were more than 50% higher than in the previous year.
Chief executive Bernard Schreier said: “The financial and economic crisis has hit the Heidelberg Group hard, but we have been able to strengthen our leading market position.”
“A definite upward trend was apparent in the second half of the year and we are, therefore, looking to the future with confidence,” he added.
The company’s total annual loss of -€229m was slightly better than the year before, when it sunk -€249m into the red.
Heidelberg has cut its cloth over the past year to suit the tough trading conditions, and Schreier said this company restructure had put the company in good stead for the future.
Heidelberg has cut 2,400 employees since the start of the financial year 2009/10, bringing its total workforce to 16,496. Taking into account trainees, consolidated companies and temporary workers, it had cut just under 4,000 jobs in the past two financial years.
It said its targeted savings of €400m had been achieved in the 2009/10 financial year – “ahead of schedule”.
The restructure split the company into three divisions: Heidelberg Equipment, Heidelberg Services and Heidelberg Finance.
It said the equipment division would try to grow market share in the “advertising printing segment”, as well as expand in packaging printing and post-press.
Meanwhile, Heidelberg Services said it was planning to increase it portfolio, which current includes services and spares, Saphira consumables, Printect software and “integration services”.
According to Heidelberg, “The part of the consumable market that is accessible to Heidelberg, for example, is worth €8bn worldwide. The company’s current market share is 4% and the medium-term goal is to increase this to 7%.”
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