It acquired European Printing Systems Group, known as PSG, in March, with the expectation that it would add around €130m (£93m) to the top line for the full year.
Group sales in the three months to 30 June jumped 29% to €563m bolstered by PSG’s contribution, positive exchange rate movements and a successful outing at the Print China show in April.
Heidelberg said all its regional operations achieved higher sales, and order intake was up 20% at €703m.
Chief financial officer Dirk Kaliebe, who is also interim chief executive due to Gerold Linzbach’s absence due to illness, was confident enough to state that Heidelberg was already “well on the way” to achieving its targets for the full year.
“The restructuring period is over and in the future we’ll be re-focusing our attention on managing our growth,” Kaliebe said.
Sales at Heidelberg Equipment jumped by 42% to €277m, and the division reversed last year’s €6m EBITDA loss and posted a profit of €8m.
Sales at its Services wing grew by 19% to €284m and EBITDA more than tripled, increasing from €11m to €36m.
Post-press products new fall under the Services wing, due to the restructuring of that operation. “The business model has changed, to a dealer and partner model,” explained a spokesman.
Heidelberg is targeting sales growth of 2-4% for the full year, with EBITDA margins of between 4-6% in equipment, and 9-11% in services, to give an overall margin of around 8%.
The positive contribution from PSG also helped to negate €15m of special items related to early retirement deals that were part of Heidelberg's restructuring of its operations.
Overall, the group moved closer to being back in the black, posting a net loss of €4m, compared with a €34m loss the prior year.
At the end of the quarter, Heidelberg employed 11,865 staff worldwide, including the 384 who joined the group from PSG, a reduction of 589 positions on the prior year.
The group also said it had also completed a further step in securing its long-term financing arrangements by agreeing a €250m revolving credit facility that runs until June 2019.
Heidelberg's share price slipped 3.1% to €2.28 after the announcement.
