Heidelberg Initiates Further Reorganization; Announces Financial Targets, Site Consolidation

Having succeeded, as forecast, in achieving a positive annual result in reporting year 2013/2014, the declared goal for financial year 2014/2015 is to further improve the company's profitability in order to get closer to the medium-term objective of an operating margin of no less than 8 percent in terms of EBITDA and improve the result after taxes in spite of the higher level of interest expense for financial liabilities. The extent of the improvement in the current financial year 2014/2015 will essentially depend on the realizability and timing of the portfolio optimization measures that represent the strategic focus from this year onward. Provided the initiatives to improve the margin and optimize the portfolio are successfully implemented in the current financial year, the company expects to be able to achieve a margin of no less than 8 percent EBITDA on sales by financial year 2015/2016. The planned earnings improvements, combined with the measures to reduce or efficiently use the tied-up capital, should strengthen the capital structure and keep the net financial debt at a low level. This will create the conditions required to optimize the financial result as targeted.