Around 1.300 shareholders attended the last July 25 Annual General Meeting of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) for the fiscal year 2017/2018, which was held at the Congress Center Rosengarten in Mannheim.
The Board of Directors presented to the shareholders the company's strategy and the figures for the previous year (from April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018). In his speech, CEO Rainer Hundsdörfer spoke about the significant progress the Group has made in pursuit of its digital transformation. Several customers have already opted for the new subscription model that offers Heidelberg products and services under a comprehensive contract based on the capacity of the equipment and the resources used by the company during a specified period of time.
In addition, serial production of digital packaging and label printing equipment (Primefire and Labelfire) has started and will have an increasingly positive impact on sales. Additional positive momentum is anticipated from additional consumable sales and higher levels of e-commerce business, driven primarily by the newly founded Heidelberg Digital Unit (HDU) and the launch of digital platforms. Heidelberg can confirm the medium-term targets communicated in summer 2017. These include an increase in Group sales of around 3 billion euros, an operating result (EBITDA) of 250 to 300 million euros and a net profit. after taxes of more than 100 million euros.
