For the three months to 31 December 2012, Heidelberg recorded an operating profit excluding special items of €25 million ($32.4 million), its best Q3 result since 2007-08 when it posted an €81 million profit.

Much of this profit was thanks to Heidelberg Services, which returned Q3 earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) and before special items of €21 million, compared with €3 million for Heidelberg Financial Services and €1 million for Heidelberg Equipment.

However, the world's largest press manufacturer still faces an uphill battle to achieve its target of a "clearly positive" EBIT for 2012-13 as it still has a €32 million deficit for this financial year.

[Related: Heidelberg SX sales above forecast]

Heidelberg said it was still confident of reaching the target due to rising sales combined with the savings from its Focus 2012 efficiency programme, which has led to the much improved Q3 operating result.

Chief executive Gerold Linzbach said: "The financial year is going according to plan. The third quarter reflects the progress we had expected in terms of earnings.

"We are systematically moving toward our target of returning to profitability by the end of financial year 2013-14. We are on the right track."

For the nine months to 31 December, net debt rose 19% year-on-year to €325 million and headcount fell by 5.5% to 14,563.

Net sales climbed 5.6% to €1.9 billion, while incoming orders jumped 11.5% at €2.2 billion. EBIT slumped from a €19 million loss to a €32 million loss.

[Related: More finance news]

This article originally appeared at printweek.com

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