However, the loss from continuing operations increased from 967,000 to 1.84-m pounds, largely due to issues at the US-headquartered EPS Product Print Systems business, which took a 1-m pound hit against obsolete or slow-moving inventories.

Xaar’s 3D business, which is expected to be sold in H2, and has been reclassified as “held for sale” in the results, made a loss of 3.5-m on sales of 1.47-m pounds due to increased R&D expenses and delays to its beta programme because of Covid restrictions.

Negotiations to divest the operation are at “an advanced stage”.

Xaar CEO John Mills said the business had been dealing with a number of headwinds, including the global shortage of silicon chips, and lockdowns in China impacting Xaar’s OEM customers there, but he remained optimistic about the firm’s future prospects.

“We have a very strong cash position and balance sheet. I’m still pretty confident we will be profitable next year. Overall, we’re in good shape,” he stated.

The Cambridge-headquartered inkjet developer acquired FFEI after the period end. Mills said FFEI’s integration know-how would help the firm capitalise on the opportunities which it calls User Developer Integrations (UDIs), such as bespoke systems on production lines.

“We are increasingly seeing companies wanting to use digital printing, or digital deposition of fluids, on their production lines but there is no off-the-shelf machine for them,” he explained. “These customers like our heads because we can jet fluids that have the special properties they need.”

Mills said Xaar’s ability to jet very high viscosity fluids compared with other printhead manufacturers was a big USP for the business, with potential markets including PCB production. “There is a lot of pressure from the Chinese government to reduce the pollution currently associated with the PCB industry, and one of the ways to do that is with digital print," he stated.

(Courtesy: Printweek.com)