HEIDELBERG (dpa-AFX) - Machinery manufacturer Heidelberger Druck has started the new 2023/24 financial year (ending March) with an increase in sales and earnings. A recovery in Asia and growth in the packaging printing segment helped. "Heidelberg got off to a good start to the new financial year with the first quarter," said company CEO Ludwin Monz in a conference call with journalists on Friday. The opening quarter of the year went according to plan, he said. The Group confirmed its targets for the year.

The stock rose 2.9 percent in morning trading, making it one of the biggest gainers in the small-cap index SDax.

Sales in the first three months to the end of June climbed 2.6 percent year-on-year to 544 million euros, the company announced in Heidelberg before the weekend. Adjusted for currency effects, the increase was five percent. The packaging printing business developed significantly better. In addition to better business in China, there were initial sales successes with a new flexographic web press, said Monz.

On the other hand, sales of wall charging stations for electric vehicles fell dramatically. According to the company, customers' reluctance to buy after the KfW subsidy for wallboxes expired was the main reason for the decline. In addition, the long delivery problems for electric vehicles had a negative impact on demand.

The company boss was not satisfied with the development of free cash. In the first quarter, 27 million euros flowed out. "The negative figure further shows that we need to do something about costs," the manager said. A value enhancement program is being launched, he said, and the company is currently still in the analysis phase. "We are looking at what potential there is, what starting points there are for optimizing structures and reducing costs," Monz explained. However, there is nothing concrete to report yet.

On the other hand, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen's day-to-day business was much better than a year ago. Operating profit (Ebitda) adjusted for special effects rose from 24 million Euro to 42 million Euro. Price increases also contributed to this. The corresponding margin improved to 7.7 percent from 4.6 percent in the previous year. Below the line, profit doubled to 10 million euros. At 591 million euros, order intake was slightly below the previous year's figure.

The machinery manufacturer remains cautious for the current fiscal year due to continuing cost pressure. Sales and adjusted margin (Ebitda margin) are expected to remain at the prior-year level. In fiscal 2022/23, the Group had generated sales of around 2.44 billion euros and 7.2 percent as adjusted operating margin.

Three years ago, following a far-reaching crisis, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen imposed a radical restructuring program on itself. The Group discontinued loss-making products, cut jobs, and focused on packaging printing and digitization - in other words, on more software automation for customers in the printing industry, among others.

Since 2018, the company has also been selling self-developed wallboxes - small systems attached to the garage wall for fast charging of e-cars. They are sold via Amazon and partly in partnerships with energy suppliers such as Eon. With the acquisition of the charging column technology of the energy company EnBW at the end of 2021, products for public spaces were also added./mne/tav/men