The share value of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG has risen by almost 250 percent in recent months. This means that the company has not only returned to the SDAX but, as boerse-online.de reports, is now already one of the “share price leaders” of the year. Heidelberg’s business with charging stations for electric vehicles in particular is listed as an important driver of the positive development.
Just four weeks ago, the printing press manufacturer announced that it was further expanding its commitment to electromobility by acquiring the charging station technology of the southern German energy provider EnBW. In addition to wallboxes, with which Heidelberg has been offering charging solutions in the home sector for a good three years and, according to the company’s own information, now has a market share of a good 20 percent in the German-speaking countries, the company will also be offering charging columns for public and semi-public areas of use, such as municipal utilities, local authorities and companies, starting in the middle of this year.
Although the decision to enter the field of e-mobility may have seemed unusual at first, it has since turned out to be a smart move on the part of CEO Rainer Hundsdörfer. After all, demand – similar to the registration figures for electric vehicles in general – is increasing both nationally and internationally, and Heidelberg is now also experiencing the positive effects of this. The fourth production line for the wallboxes at the Wiesloch/Walldorf site, which was planned for the beginning of this year, has therefore already been put into operation at the end of October 2021, significantly earlier than planned. A fifth assembly line is also said to be already in the planning stage. In addition, Heidelberg intends to make its charging solutions even more intelligent through the strategic cooperation with SAP announced in November 2021.
However, Heidelberg’s traditional business has also recently developed positively. The second quarter (July 1 to September 30) of financial year 2021/2022 showed an increase in sales and EBITDA compared with the same period of the previous year. In addition to e-mobility, the growth areas of packaging printing, digital business models, and high sales in China were responsible for this. Following numerous restructuring measures in recent years, the adopted focus on the profitable core business, as Heidelberg calls it, should also shape the company’s next years.
After some ups and downs in recent years, the share price of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG has been moving upwards once again since 2021. The all-time low was reached in the fall of 2020 at 0.48 Euro, and the share is currently trading at 2.91 Euro (as of 4.1.22, 9:15 a.m.). Compared with the closing price on January 4, 2021 (0.83 euros), this represents an increase of a solid 250 percent. The company achieved its best share price in the last five years in mid-October 2017 at a value of 3.58 euros.
