Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

The inkjet printing firm said that investigations by Chinese customs officials into three of its customers had adversely affected sales in the second half of 2006, which prompted a slump in pretax profit for the full year, dropping to £7.9m from £10.5m reported a year ago. Full-year turnover also fell from £42.8m to £42.2m, with EPS also dipping 7.9p from 11.6p last time.

The Cambridge company said that sales in China have recovered fully and it was looking forward to continued growth in the market, and all regions, given its confidence in its future prospects.

Xaar's shares experienced a small rise of one per cent following the results announcement.