Heidelberg systematically pressing ahead with strategic development

Print Solutions

Heidelberg has started financial year 2026/2027 by systematically continuing its transition to a more broadly based technology company. The company is setting the course for future growth with a number of strategic initiatives.

Besides expanding its core business by taking over manroland sheetfed lifecycle business and Polar production operations, the company is also tapping into additional potential by taking advantage of new market opportunities arising from energy storage systems and the European defence sector.

Integration of the manroland sheetfed Group’s lifecycle business and global sales and service companies, together with full acquisition of Polar post press systems, has further enhanced the strategic position of Heidelberg as a systems integrator in its core business. As part of the manroland sheetfed transaction, Heidelberg has also secured the intellectual property rights for the Roland 900/Cartonmaster in the large format sheetfed offset segment. The first press of this model has already been sold, and Heidelberg is currently looking into further production and development options for this system at a low cost location. In this way, the company is reinforcing its leading position in the printing and packaging sector.

At the recent international aerospace trade show ILA Berlin, Onberg signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a further joint venture – with the Ukrainian drone developer Skyeton. The Skyeton portfolio includes high tech, combat proven surveillance drones, which are being combined with the Heidelberg unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) to create an autonomous system of systems.

The move by HD Advanced Technologies into the production of sodium-ion battery storage systems is also opening up new potential. The company has teamed up with Swiss business Phenogy to collaborate on a technology and industry platform in this sector. As an initial step, HD Advanced Technologies will start handling the industrial manufacturing of complete energy storage systems for Phenogy – from procurement and production through to rollout, installation, service, and maintenance. The two companies are also laying the groundwork for a joint venture focusing on the development and industrial manufacturing of sodium-ion battery cells based on Phenogy’s cell chemistry and a specific printing process from Heidelberg.

‘This financial year at Heidelberg is all about investments in line with our strategic agenda. We are looking to further strengthen the company’s market position and tap into new potential. This will create the basis for profitable growth and sustainable value enhancement in the coming years,’ said Jürgen Otto, CEO of Heidelberg.

During the first quarter of financial year 2026/2027 (April 1 to June 30, 2026), underlying conditions continued to be challenging. Despite this, the incoming orders figure of €537 million was only slightly down on the equivalent quarter of the previous year (€559 million) and therefore laid a solid foundation for further business development. The phasing out of a state subsidised investment programme in Italy had a massive impact in the first quarter, reducing incoming orders there by over €60 million compared with the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The positive developments in China and the rest of Asia only partly compensated for this.

Sales totalled €404 million and, as expected, were therefore below the figure for the equivalent period of the previous year (€466 million). Sales were significantly higher in China, the UK, and Brazil, but lower elsewhere, especially in the EMEA region. Adjusted for special items, the EBITDA margin for the first quarter of financial year 2026/2027 was 0.2% (corresponding quarter of previous year: 4.4%), primarily due to the lower volume of sales. As is normally the case at this point in the financial year, the free cashflow after the first three months was negative, at €-77 million (equivalent period of previous year: €-68 million). The net result after taxes for the first quarter amounted to €-32 million (corresponding period of previous year: €-11 million).

The Heidelberg Technology segment’s incoming orders and sales after three months exceeded the level recorded in the equivalent period of the previous year. Adjusted EBITDA remained stable at €-4 million. A partly expected downturn in the EMEA region was a particular factor contributing to the print and packaging equipment segment’s lower incoming orders and sales. In the digital solutions and lifecycle segment, incoming orders after three months were around 5% up on the equivalent quarter of the previous year, while sales matched the previous year’s quarterly figure.

‘In our core business, we are targeting our investments toward growth markets, which is also boosting our service, consumables, and spare parts business,’ said Dr David Schmedding, chief technology and sales officer at Heidelberg. ‘At the same time, we can increase the proportion of repeat sales and better balance out new machine business, which tends to depend on economic trends,’ he added.

The forecast for financial year 2026/2027 remains unchanged. The company is expecting stable group sales matching the previous year’s level in financial year 2026/2027 and a noticeable improvement in the adjusted EBITDA margin compared with the previous year. It is assumed that there will be no substantial changes in relevant exchange rates for business activities.