Clearly positive operating result excluding special items

• Sales up 5 percent at EUR 2.735 billion
• EBITDA excluding special items improves to EUR 111 million, with clearly positive EBIT excluding special items of EUR 28 million
• Special items and negative financial result lead to net loss for the year
• Free cash flow excluding payments for Focus 2012 clearly positive at around EUR 44 million (including Focus 2012: EUR -18 million)
• Net debt remains stable at EUR 261 million
• Outlook confirmed - net profit is target for financial year 2013/2014
• Strategic business areas geared toward long-term profitability

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) has reached a key milestone on its way to long-term profitability by meeting its own forecasts and achieving a clearly positive operating result excluding special items in financial year 2012/2013 (April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2013). The next step in the strategic process is for Heidelberg to turn a profit again in the current financial year 2013/2014 and to record a positive net result after a series of losses since the crisis year 2008. The medium-term goal is to further reduce the company's debt level to no more than twice the operating result before depreciation and amortization. This will give Heidelberg the greater flexibility needed for assessing and optimizing its portfolio based on its future profitability. To achieve this, Heidelberg addressed the operating segments and made a start on revising and adapting the Group's business areas (BAs) in the year under review.

"In the financial year just closed, we introduced the necessary steps to return to profitability in financial year 2013/2014," said Heidelberg CEO Gerold Linzbach. "Heidelberg now has a more flexible setup with clearly assigned responsibilities. We are focusing our full attention on our profitability by adapting to the market situation. We will make strategic adjustments to the portfolio and increasingly focus on business areas that offer the potential to achieve long-term profitability," he added.