Heidelberg Reports Incoming Orders Up 43 Percent

"The market recovery continued in the first quarter, thus helping to maintain the upward trend in incoming orders and sales," said Heidelberg CEO Bernhard Schreier. "Together with the cost-cutting measures initiated, this has substantially reduced our operating loss," he added.

The operating result, excluding special items, improved considerably from the previous year's figure of EUR -63 million to EUR -35 million. Key factors in this improvement were slightly higher sales, the savings achieved by the cost-cutting program, and the greater efficiency resulting from the reorganization. Following the agreement reached between the company and employee representatives, parts of the provisions formed in the previous year to improve efficiency could be released. As a result, the income from special items was EUR 15 million. This produced an operating result, including special items, of EUR -20 million. Higher financing costs led to a financial result of EUR -35 million (previous year: EUR -22 million). The profit before taxes for the first quarter improved to EUR -56 million (previous year: EUR -86 million), while net loss in the period under review was EUR -52 million (previous year: EUR -69 million).