Heidelberg Achieves Key Milestone with a Positive Operating Result Excluding Special Items

The fourth quarter of the financial year just closed was, as expected, the strongest in terms of preliminary key figures. For example, sales for the period January to March 2013 rose to EUR 830 million (previous year: EUR 785 million). The result of operating activities excluding special items for the quarter under review improved from EUR 22 million in the previous year to EUR 60 million. Negative special items amounted to EUR 41 million in the fourth quarter alone - mainly due to provisions for stepping up specific measures as part of Focus 2012. Incoming orders in the fourth quarter were up on the previous year's level (EUR 580 million) at EUR 620 million. The free cash flow in Q4 was clearly positive at around EUR 70 million (previous year: EUR 33 million). This reduced the net financial debt at the end of the financial year from EUR 325 million in the previous quarter to around EUR 260 million.