Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) has recorded very positive interim results for the current fiscal year 2000/2001. Between April 1 and September 30, 2000, the Heidelberg Group took orders worth 3 billion Euro, an increase of 51% on the previous year (2 billion Euro ). Orders on hand stood at 2.2 billion Euro. This is almost 84% more than the same period in the 1999/2000 fiscal year. "We have profited from the world's booming economies", says Heidelberg's Chairman of the Management Board, Bernhard Schreier. "The huge demand for our solutions also demonstrates the excellent position of print media in the communications industry. We regard the task of shaping their future as one of our key missions." After the first six months of the 2000/2001 fiscal year, sales were around 2.2 billion Euro, a rise of almost 19% on the previous year. Alongside the positive overall economic development in key markets, the "drupa effect" has created orders of more than 1.5 billion Euro for Heidelberg. The profit after taxes between April and September 2000 exceeded last year's high level, rising 2% to 82 million Euro (previous year: 81 million Euro). As of September 30, 2000, the company employed 25,102 staff worldwide. This is a rise of 925, or 4%, compared to April 1, 2000. Heidelberg's shares have held their position since the beginning of the year, in spite of the turbulence experienced by the financial markets. Having gained in value by nearly 23% - measured on September 29, 2000 - they succeeded in outperforming both the DAX (-2.3%) and the MDAX (+20.4%). In the Digital division, there was significant growth in both orders received (+43.5%) and sales (+ 31%). Since the solution's launch in March 1999, expectations have been greatly exceeded, with 1,700 Digimaster presses already shipped worldwide. The boom in the Sheetfed division (sheetfed offset presses) continued. Orders rose by 62%, while sales increased 17%. Following highly successful trade fair business and resulting orders, Heidelberg expects even greater improvements on last year's figures over the remainder of the fiscal year. In the Web division (web offset presses), orders received were up by 28%, with sales rising by 25%. Milestones in this sector included the sale of two further newspaper rotary presses to a French customer. Heidelberg has also extended its range of newspaper presses with the "Tristream" model. This new solution allows publishers to cut considerably both overall costs and the length of a complete printing system. The Finishing sector (postpress) increased its orders received by an impressive 25%. Orders for folders, gatherer-stitchers and Polar cutters also climbed - in some cases substantially - over last year. With an increase in sales of 57%, the Asia/Pacific region performed exceptionally well. China is currently the fastest-growing of Heidelberg's individual markets. Business in North America was also highly encouraging. On the NAFTA market (USA, Mexico and Canada), sales rose by 29% compared to the same period last year. At the Graph Expo (Chicago) trade fair alone, Heidelberg recorded a new high, receiving orders to the value of 180 million Euro . Heidelberg predicts very positive developments for the 2000/2001 fiscal year as a whole. "Orders received will reach more than 5 billion Euro, especially after the success of drupa", states Financial Director Dr. Herbert Meyer. For the first time ever, the Heidelberg Group's sales are predicted to exceed the 5 billion Euro threshold. "Based on these figures, I predict the annual surplus to show an increase of around 10% on last year."