Xaar's revenue up 13%, underlying earnings grow 35% in ‘07
Inkjet printing technology group Xaar plc reported a 13% increase in turnover to £47.9m and 6% growth in pre-tax profit to £7.3m for the year ended 31 December.
The Cambridge Science Park-headquartered group said the results reflected continued growth from its established, market leading printhead products.
Underlying profit increased 35% to £9.3m before accounting for early stage losses of its new Huntingdon manufacturing plant.
Chairman Phil Lawler (pictured) said the group was "well positioned to capitalise on the progressive shift from analogue to inkjet technology based printing - a trend which is gathering momentum within specialist and mainstream printing markets.
"Xaar's reputation and position in the inkjet market is building. We have the manufacturing capacity and capability, the technical knowledge and a committed and talented team which is now focused on execution and delivery of growth."
He said the top priority for 2008 is to accelerate the generation of commercial returns from Xaar’s new products that have been seeded into the market over the last year.
The third generation Xaar 1001 is a key breakthrough in inkjet technology performance - especially in terms of reliability and ease of use; the company believes this product is a major enabling tool to open new business opportunities.
“ We look forward to 2008 with confidence based on our established profitable business and the opportunities in additional markets from our new products.
Xaar's business consists of product sales, royalty income and development fees. Product sales dominate revenue at 95% of the total, whilst royalty income grew to 4% whilst development fees fell to 1%.
Key reason for the relative decline in development fees is that the proess of helping partners to get new products using Xaar’s second and third generation technology took longer than expected.
The group’s share price gained a little on news of the results. It has been on a steady uptrend since reaching year lows at 142.5p in early February. By close of trading on Friday it was at 182p, valuing Xaar at around £115m.
14 March 2008
