Good morning, everyone. Also, a warm welcome from my side. I am happy to host the next meeting, and I am glad to have Heidelberger Druck with us today. Last week, the company released its Q1 results. Maybe Marc will also give us some insights here. Marc Schellenberger, Head of Investor Relations, will run us through the presentation and will enlighten us about the company's plan in the defense space. As you all know, some housekeeping. The presentation will last about 15-20 minutes. We will have time for some question and answers afterwards. The presentation is being recorded. If you want to ask questions, you can ask them using the chat box on the bottom right. Without further ado, Marc, I would like to hand over the presentation to you. The floor is yours. Thanks, Thomas, and thank you for a warm introduction. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for your interest in the Heidelberg story. It is a pleasure once again to participate in the mwb conference. My name is Marc Schellenberger, and I am the Head of Investor Relations at Heidelberg. Today's presentation will begin with a brief introduction to Heidelberg, followed by an overview of our strategy, which is fully dedicated to Driving High-Tech. Then we will review the financial results we presented last week, discuss them in context of our current guidance, and highlight the key developments shaping our outlook. Finally, we will conclude the session with a Q&A, and look forward to answering your questions. For now, do not waste time. Let us dive straight into a brief overview of Heidelberg and our strategy. Heidelberg is a company with a lot of history, stretching of more than 175 years, and during that time, we have worked our way towards becoming a market and technology leader in the print and packaging industry. Why are we in such position? Beyond our heritage and size, a key unique strength of Heidelberg is our complete coverage of the entire packaging and printing value chain. It is a holistic ecosystem. This integrated model from pre-press and press, post-press, services, consumables, and software is a major differentiator and a core part of what defines Heidelberg. This comprehensive approach, combined with our global service and support network, gives us a clear edge in the market. Another USP of Heidelberg is that we do have extensive in-house expertise when it comes to mechanics, electronics, and service application know-how. Moreover, we do have large parts of the vertical value chain in-house, which gives resilience in daily operations, but also this has the advantage to develop promising growth business pillars we will explain later on. With this expertise, Heidelberg is able to participate from a global mega trends. Printing may sound like legacy industry, but today's presses are highly digital, automated, and productivity-driven. Heidelberg has successfully transformed its DNA to lead this evolution. We operate on a truly global scale. Our customers come from 170 countries, and we have 250 locations worldwide. We generate 85% of our sales outside Germany, with around 25% coming from APAC region. This is where we have a truly USP. Heidelberg is the only manufacturer of offset presses with its own production facility in China. Let us take a look on the digital side. We supply our own software with our machines. This gives us remote access for service purposes. However, the more than 11,000 connected machines also provide a strong database for improvements and further developments. In combination with expertise in mechanics and electronics, they also form the basis for comprehensive automation of the entire printing process. These strengths underline Heidelberg's strong fundamentals today and provide the basis for understanding the value of the Heidelberg ecosystem on the next slide. Here you see our ecosystem. Heidelberg continues to execute a strategic roadmap called Driving High-Tech. Despite the challenging market environment, the measures implemented are already showing initial positive effects. Importantly, both our core business and our second growth pillar, HD Advanced Technologies, built on the same technology foundation, competencies, and infrastructure. Our activities in HD Advanced Technologies leverage capabilities developed over decades, including software, automation, manufacturing expertise, service and systems integration, and apply them to attractive new markets. For example, our expertise in complex power distribution and control systems for high-performance printing machines forms the basis for our charging, energy management, and defense-related solutions. Likewise, managing thousands of EV charging points draws on the same digital capabilities that connect and monitor more than 11,000 Heidelberg systems worldwide. This shared technology base creates synergies, reducing execution risk, and positions us to capitalize on key growth trends such as automation, e-mobility, energy infrastructure, and security and defense technologies. Let me now provide a closer look at our portfolio segments and highlight the most recent developments across our portfolio. Starting with the left side, starting with our core business, Print and Packaging. Start of July, we closed the acquisition of manroland. The acquisition of manroland is a unique strategic opportunity that strengthens our market position as system integrator, while also supporting industry consolidation. It expands our customer reach by more than 3,000 customers, enhances our service and spare parts business and supports the continued growth of our Lifecycle business. Increasing the contribution of recurring revenue is quite important for several reasons. First, recurring revenue provides visibility. Second, recurring revenue reduces macro-driven cyclicality and makes Heidelberg more resilient. Third, the Lifecycle business offers higher margins and will drive group profitability in the future. manroland's presence in 35 countries, with approximately 600 employees, drives and streamlines Heidelberg's footprint. Combined, around 2,700 sales and service employees worldwide, strengthening our presence in key markets such as China, Mexico, and Latin America. Following the full integration of the manroland operations, which is planned to take place over the next two years, Heidelberg targets, for the combined operations, a stable sales contribution of in total EUR 100+ million, with an EBIT contribution ambition of approximately EUR 10 million -EUR 15 million per year. We are confident that this partnership will create long-term sustainable value for our stakeholders. We had a second deal. Another important strategic step in recent weeks was the complete acquisition of POLAR. POLAR is a highly recognized specialist for post-press systems and has been a longstanding partner of Heidelberg. The acquisition supports our ambition to become an even stronger system integrator for our customers and contributes on different angles. By fully integrating POLAR machines and systems into the Heidelberg organization and ecosystem, on the one hand, we strengthen our position in packaging and labeling, while expanding our offering along the value chain. On the other hand, following the integration in Heidelberg's ecosystem, the transfer of POLAR production to North Macedonia is a key lever for improving our cost competitiveness. Regarding North Macedonia, I will spend a few words later on. Let us now switch this focus to our international expansion plans, reducing reliance on the domestic market. China recently recorded one of the strongest Q1 order intakes. With our strategy in place, we will further enhance efficiency to continue growing in China. Building on over a century of presence in Japan, Heidelberg's strong market position enables the company to capture future growth opportunities across the region. In Vietnam and India, too, we are pursuing a dedicated initiative to further secure and strengthen our access to the market. The African countries are also focus markets for Heidelberg. This means that we are unlocking new potential for tailored strategy. In Brazil, thanks to a strong sales and service network, we see an opportunity to capitalize on the promising market growth. Packaging printing is also a key growth driver here, fueled by rising prosperity and the increasing use of paper packaging. Accordingly, sales in the first quarter of the current fiscal year more than doubled in Brazil. A promising region is Mexico, which is primarily driven by nearshoring, especially for packaging label. With that, let me conclude the section on our geographic expansion strategy across customers and end markets. Equally important, our geographic ambitions to ensure further competitiveness of Heidelberg as base of stakeholder value creation. As part of our efficiency and cost optimization strategy, we are establishing a low-cost country footprint in North Macedonia, already mentioned two slides ago. We have created a new entity called HEIDELBERG Industrial Solutions, which is operational since the beginning of 2026, starting with the assembly of post-press equipment and scalable over time. Execution is progressing rapidly. The production ramp-up commenced already in 2026, with the site expected to reach full operation capacity by 2028. The location offers a very attractive cost position at China level, combined with government support for both CapEx and OpEx. As previously highlighted, the relocation of POLAR's production activities to North Macedonia will support the ramp-up. Overall, the expansion of production in low-cost country is a key lever to structurally improve our cost base and support margin expansion. Having laid a strong foundation through consistent cost optimization, we now shift our focus with full conviction to unlock substantial growth opportunities in new markets beyond Heidelberg's core business. First, in line with the high-tech agenda, we are positioning Heidelberg as a partner for rapid industrial scaling. Through HD Advanced Technologies, we are building a new growth pillar. Sorry. Through HD Advanced Technologies, we are building a new growth pillar and leveraging our existing industrial and engineering capabilities to address attractive high-tech markets. Our key advantage is that around 80% of the required technologies and competencies already exist with our longstanding core business, enabling fast and efficient market entry. By combining precision engineering, system integration, electronics, sensor technology, software, and digital solutions, we deliver end-to-end industrial solutions and create a clear competitive advantage. This positions us to capitalize on global megatrends such as defense and securities, energy, robotics, AI, and mobility, while building a scalable high-tech business alongside our corporations. Based on this strong capability platform and proven execution track record, let me highlight some of our latest achievements. End of July 2025, Heidelberg starts its defense journey and signs the memorandum of understanding with VINCORION. With VINCORION as a strategic partner, Heidelberg has established a collaboration aimed at the development, industrialization, and construction of energy control and distribution systems. In this way, the alliance will help boost technology sovereignty and safeguard domestic value chains. The partnership is progressing according to plan. The first revenues already generated last fiscal year. As another important milestone, Heidelberg enters the critical sector and signs the memorandum of understanding with Ondas in December 2025. The critical market we are addressing is large and supplied with accordingly high and promising and quite attractive. Critical infrastructure is cross-sectoral and will become increasingly regulated, with more than 2,000 operating sites in Germany alone. What makes this particularly compelling is that investment are non-discretionary, driven by regulation and security requirements. The market is also structurally attractive, with recurring revenues and replacement cycles creating long-term visibility. This is exactly the type of market where our capabilities create strong differentiation. In addition, demand is highly diversified across industrial, civil, and defense applications, providing a high degree of resilience. Combined with strict regulatory requirements, this results in a large, stable, and scalable market environment. Overall, this represents an attractive fit for Heidelberg's system integration and industrialization capabilities, positioning ONBERG as a one-stop shop for autonomous counter drone solutions. On this slide, you see our own created UGV on the ground and the Raybird of Skyeton, which is a memorandum signed at the ILA in June between Ondas and Skyeton. That's a short explanation. Let's come to the underlying idea behind this, what we are doing there. Another important milestone was the launch of Ondas' live demonstration hub in Brandenburg in April, providing customers and stakeholders with a dedicated environment to experience integrated counter- UAS solutions in real-world scenarios. The facility showcases the interoperability of various defense technologies and highlights the capabilities of our system-based approach to drone detection, identification, and mitigation. Particular emphasis is placed on the protection of critical infrastructure, a market that continues to gain strategic importance across Europe. Demand for effective counter -UAS solutions is increasing as security requirements continue to rise. Recent incidents, for example, at Leipzig Airport at latest a few days ago, have further underlined the need for reliable and integrated defense capabilities. Through ONBERG, Heidelberg is positioning itself as a technology industrialization partner in a growing defense market, leveraging existing engineering, manufacturing, and system integration expertise. While this business is still at an early stage, we continue to see significant long-term potential and remain fully committed to expanding our presence in the security and defense sector. Another theme we just signed is a partnership with PHENOGY. Our strategic partnership with PHENOGY is another important step in expanding Heidelberg's technology portfolio. The partnership targets the rapidly growing energy storage market and supports the diversification of Heidelberg beyond its traditional core business. Together with PHENOGY, we aim to establish the European Industrial Platform for sodium-ion batteries technology, addressing increasing demand for resilient and sustainable energy storage solutions. Heidelberg will contribute its industrial manufacturing expertise across the entire value chain, ranging from procurement and production to installation, service, and maintenance. The key differentiator is the combination of PHENOGY's cell chemistry with Heidelberg's specific printing technology, creating opportunities for scalable and cost-efficient battery production. The partnership also strengthens European technology sovereignty by reducing dependence on non-European supply chains. Overall, we see an attractive long-term growth potential in this market and a strong strategic fit with Heidelberg's industrial capabilities. Coming to our e-mobility business, at the same time, we are expanding into charging infrastructure operations and opening our service network beyond the print industry. Our subsidiary, Amperfied, operates according to its three-tier business model. First, Amperfied provides operational management services to corporate clients. This segment has grown organically by over 10% annually and generates stable cash flows. Examples of corporate clients include SAP and Siemens Energy. Second, Amperfied ensures operational management at public charging stations and logistics sites. The focus is on maximizing availability through recurring monthly fees. Our next goal is to enter the market with our own DC product in the second half of the fiscal year. Third, Amperfied offers services for third-party hardware as many customers operate multiple brands. These activities have also already begun. Initial revenue for customers has been generated, and numerous accounts are currently in contract negotiations. On this slide, I've summarized all the highlights we just mentioned and explained. Before turning to the detailed financial review, here we have the summary, and with that, I conclude the section on strategy and switch to Heidelberger's financial performance in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2026/2027. As expected, Q1 was marked by a challenging market environment, particularly following the expiry of the Italian incentive program. As a result, order intake declined by 4% to EUR 537 million. At the same time, momentum in China and U.S. remained positive, while our order backlog increased to EUR 762 million. The book-to-bill ratio was roughly 1.3x, providing solid visibility for the coming quarters. Net sales decreased by 30% to EUR 404 million, mainly reflecting softer demand of Print and Packaging Equipment, particularly in the EMEA region. The lower sales volume impacted profitability, with the adjusted EBITDA margin at 2% compared to 4.4% in the prior year. Our cost measures continued to gain traction. Headcount was reduced by 2%, staff costs declined by EUR 12 million year -on -year to EUR 196 million, and increased flexibility helped mitigate the impact of lower volumes. The free cash flow amounted to EUR -77 million, reflecting the lower earnings level and the usual seasonality of the first quarter. That's primarily the rebuild up of inventory. Additionally, we had some investments we made, as also mentioned in manroland sheetfed and POLAR, which also, let's say, burdened the cash flow generation. Overall, strong order backlog, ongoing cost discipline, and positive momentum in key markets support our outlook for the remainder of the year. Let me now turn to the segment performance. In Print and Packaging Equipment, the phaseout of the Italian incentive program continued to weigh on order intake, sales, and profitability. Despite the lower volume environment, the implementation of our efficiency measures remains on track. Digital Solutions and Lifecycle once again demonstrated the resilience of the business model. Order intake increased while sales remained stable. Profitability declined compared to prior year due to the allocation of non-product related overhead costs. HEIDELBERG Technology continued its growth path, with increases in both order intake and sales. The segment continues to benefit from our diversification initiatives in areas such as defense, energy, and mobility. Overall, while market conditions remain challenging in our core equipment business, Lifecycle and Technology continue to support the group resilience and strategic transformation. Let me also short comment on the regional performance. EMEA remained affected by the phaseout of the Italian incentive program already mentioned, with order intake down by 16% and net sales down by 23% year-on-year. Asia-Pacific delivered a strong performance with an order intake increase in 17% and net sales growing 3%, mainly driven by continued strength in China. In the Americas, order intake remains resilient and broadly stable, supported by positive momentum in the U.S., while net sales declined 9% in the U.S. year-on-year. Overall, the regional pictures remains unchanged. That means Italy continues to weigh on performance while China and U.S. show recurring demand trends. Finally, let me brief comment on the balance sheet and liquidity position. Equity amounted to EUR 536 million at the end of June, corresponding to an equity ratio of 24.3%, mainly reflecting the quarterly loss and the pension-related valuation effects. Net financial position declined to EUR 39 million. On the negative side, primarily due to the negative free cash flow in the seasonal weaker first quarter. Despite this development, our financial flexibility remains strong. Following the early extension of our revolving credit facility at the beginning of the year, roughly EUR 300 million remain undrawn at the end of June. Overall, our liquidity position and financing structure remains solid, providing the financial foundation to execute our strategy and further expand into attractive growth markets such as defense, energy, and e-mobility. We summarize the Q1. Despite lower sales performance in the first three months, we saw a contribution margin ratio improvement to 32.6%. That is an increase year-on-year by 110 basis points, and a sequential increase by 720 basis points. That is reflecting a normalization to have, let us say, a level back of 30% +. So that is a normalization in operating performance. Our efficiency and cost optimization initiatives remain fully on track and provide the foundation for a gradual recovery in profitability. Cost discipline continues to be a priority across the group. While momentum continues to remain challenging, we continue to see encouraging momentum in key growth regions. Strong performance in China, in first stage mentioned, and resilient demand in the U.S. partly offset the impact of the Italian incentive phase out and underlined the benefits of the diversified geographic footprint. Free cash flow was negative in the first quarter, as already mentioned. First of all, we saw the normal seasonality of inventory rebuild up, as well as investment in manroland sheetfed, POLAR, and defense and energy projects. These investments are fully aligned with our strategy to drive growth, diversification, and future profitability. At the same time, our balance sheet remains solid and provides the financial flexibility to execute our strategic agenda going forward. So we are aligned, let us say, following the first or starting the month with our full year guidance. And what you see here, all the details. As said, all confirmed with all the same arguments. Saying that I would say thank you for listening, and let us take the last five minutes for the Q&A session. Thanks a lot, Marc. We have received a few questions that I would like to address together with you. Starting out with the EBITDA margin that was down a little bit in the first quarter. When exactly do you expect the defense unit to reach break even, and what CapEx is needed there? There is another question basically heading exactly the same direction, that you are going into new areas like battery storage and drone defense. How much capital are these non-core projects actually consuming right now, and when do you think they will become a meaningful part of revenues? Yeah. Let us say it depends on the partnership we are building up. For example, let us take the example ONBERG. ONBERG is a 51% and 49% joint venture, so 49% at Heidelberg, 51% ownership at Ondas. If you speak about that, then you have, for example, only initial investments to create substance in such business. You will get, let us say, the payback on the mid to long run via the financial result. So that depends on the structure. There will be, let us say, some other things we just signed. For example, PHENOGY, there is a plan to sign, if, let us say, the testing period ends with a positive result, that we will sign a joint venture, which means 50/50. Having that, then you immediately be a part of the revenue and operating performance recognition. So it depends. What I can tell you is all the partnership we have signed, both partner and [ventures], with capitals and our capital part is something which you normally find in the area in the low teens or, let us say, in the low double digit million euros that are the initial investments we are doing there. That means we do it with economic rational and with understanding for shareholder, stakeholder value creation. Our ramp up, yeah, this other thing, let us take the example, if you are active in the defense business and if you are, let us say, a supplier, there is need that, for example, the military area will sign or will show the orders to, let us say, to Rheinmetall, Hensoldt, RENK, KNDS, whatever they are. If they have these contracts, then they can share this contract with the supplier base. That means that is also an exogain factor, which we do not have in our hands. We are, as said, we are doing this new business areas with limited capital. We see, let us say, in the first phase, which we have concluded right now, starting with VINCORION assignment end of July last year. We have taken the last 12 months to position ourself in a new business area with partnerships, generating first revenues. Now the second phase will be, let us say, to broaden and to monitorize these partnerships. In the second phase, that will be a phase of another, let us say, 12 -1 5 months, my expectation. That will be the expectation for the next, yeah, 12 - 18 months, that we will, let us say, a nice growth rate, but coming from low, let us say, low volumes. You know that our HEIDELBERG Technology business made last year generated revenue of EUR 60 million. Our ambition is to bring this or to push this year in a mid double digit percentage range year -on -year. But that are, let us say, for a company of EUR 2.3 billion in sales, that is let us say, not a game changer for this year. Great. Thank you. 11:29 A.M., I think unfortunately we are out of time. Appreciate the insights that you have shared with us, Marc, and I am posting the link to the next presentation, which will be Lanxess, in case you want to join that. Thanks a lot to everybody who joined this presentation, for your questions and your interest. Thanks a lot, Marc, to you for sharing your knowledge and your insights into Heidelberg. If you have a question, do not hesitate to contact me later on. Thanks for the offer, and same of course holds true for our analyst, who also is more than happy to answer questions you might have. Thank you. Have a great morning. Bye. Thanks for your interest. Bye-bye.
Loading workspace