Heidelberger Druckmaschinen: A Pivot Into Defence and Energy as the Print Business Cools

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen posts €15M net profit on €2.293B revenue, but adjusted EBITDA slips to 6.6% as it funds a transformation into drone defense and sodium-ion battery markets.

The German printing press manufacturer Heidelberger Druckmaschinen has wrapped up its 2025/2026 financial year with net profit of €15 million on revenue of €2.293 billion, but the headline figures mask a business under strain. The adjusted EBITDA margin slipped from 7.1% to 6.6% year-on-year, underscoring the pressure on profitability as the company pours resources into a sweeping strategic overhaul.

Shareholders gave their blessing to that overhaul at last week’s virtual annual general meeting, where 23% of the share capital was represented. Every management proposal passed, including the decision to skip a dividend for the year — a move the board justified by the need to fund the transformation. The payout freeze means cash that would have gone to investors stays locked inside the group, financing a shift that CEO Jürgen Otto describes as a transition from printing press maker to “technology integrator”.

That vision is taking concrete shape through a new subsidiary, HD Advanced Technologies (HDAT), which is pushing into two entirely new markets. Through the joint venture ONBERG Autonomous Systems — a 49%-owned vehicle with Ondas Autonomous Systems — Heidelberg has entered the drone defence and autonomous security space, complete with a centre in Brandenburg an der Havel that has been operational since mid-April. Just this week, on 21 July, HDAT signed an industrial partnership with Switzerland’s PHENOGY AG to build a platform for sodium-ion battery storage, covering manufacturing, installation and maintenance.

The expansion comes as the core print business continues to generate cash, albeit at thinning margins. Heidelberg strengthened its service footprint in June by acquiring parts of the global service and spare-parts operations of insolvent Manroland Sheetfed from Langley Holdings, bringing in around 35 sales subsidiaries and 600 staff. A new colour dosing system called ChromaStar, launched in mid-July, targets cost and complexity in packaging printing, while packaging group WINTIPAK placed an order for a large-format Boardmaster press at the start of the month — evidence that demand in the traditional segment has not dried up entirely.

Yet the financial reality for the current year is sobering. Management has guided for a net loss in the low double-digit millions for 2026/2027, driven by transformation costs and investment in the new divisions. Investors are being asked to stomach another transitional year in which the legacy print operation effectively underwrites the group’s reinvention.

The stock market has not rewarded the ambition. Shares traded at €1.37 on Thursday, down 0.72% on the day, and have lost 45.84% from the 52-week high of €2.54 reached at the end of July last year. The stock closed at €1.38 on Wednesday, putting it just 7.04% above the 52-week low of €1.29 from March — and 31.87% lower year-to-date. The price action suggests investors are pricing in execution risk rather than future upside.

At the top, the board has locked in continuity. CEO Jürgen Otto’s contract was extended early in April to run until the end of July 2029, while sales chief Dr. David Schmedding is now tied to the company until June 2031. Both new terms took effect on 1 July, signalling that the supervisory board intends to see the transformation through over the long haul.

The next major test arrives on 19 August, when Heidelberg reports first-quarter results for 2026/2027. Analysts and investors will be watching closely to see whether the margin weakness from last year persists and whether the new businesses — drone defence, battery storage, and the technology integrator model — have started to contribute revenue or remain cost centres. Until then, the stock sits in a familiar bind: caught between the promise of structural change and the hard arithmetic of a shrinking print margin and zero shareholder payout.