Xaar loses over seven per cent as results disappoint despite board optimism

Investment bank Panmure Gordon felt Xaar was in a sound position for the year ahead and reiterated its target buy price of 190p a share compared to the 101p it stood at after the results were posted on Tuesday. Xaar’s 52-week low stands at 90.24p.

The bank’s Andy Smith said Xaar was re-engaging with its customer base, commenting: “The 2023 prelims confirm an Adj. PBT of £2.9 million (2022: £2.8m) and Xaar announced that it remained in a net cash position following the receipt of a one-off gain of £2m arising from the disposal of intangible assets.

“We will be leaving our 2024 Adj. PBT forecast unchanged at £0.5m and continue to forecast a recovery in 2025 with the EBIT margin in 2025 expanding from 1.4 per cent to 5.5 per cent, supporting an Adj. PBT of £3.9m. We re-iterate our BUY recommendation and target price of 190p.”

Revenue for the year was down three per cent to £70.6m but the company suffered a pre-tax loss of £2.4m compared to a profit of £0.8m the previous year. Net cash at year-end was also down to £7.1m from £8.5m year-on-year.

CEO John Mills said: “Whilst the external trading environment remains challenging, we have a clear plan in place and remain focused on the delivery of our strategy and taking advantage of the significant opportunities we have that will drive profitable growth.

“Our products continue to generate strong interest from customers, demonstrating our leadership in printing highly viscous fluids with all the performance and sustainability benefits they deliver.

“Due to the current market conditions, adoption of our customers’ products is taking longer than expected, impacting our revenue; however, we have put in place a cost action plan to mitigate this. We remain optimistic about the future, being well placed to benefit as the trading environment improves.

“With a substantial market opportunity and the progress made we remain well positioned to realise our exciting potential.”

German client praises Xaar for ‘reshaping digital printing’

Xaar has been praised by German company Koenig & Bauer Kammann (Kammann) for transformational technology in the sector. Xaar’s Ultra High Viscosity Technology is enabling Kammann to drive its latest innovations by enhancing quality, speed and sustainability for customers using its K15 and K20 decorative print machine families.

Utilising the new high viscosity fluids developed by global ink manufacturer Marabu, Kammann’s machines allow both new and current customers to create personalised embossed effects on glass bottles, plastic and metal containers at a build height of up to 3mm.

This latest development is entirely backwards compatible, enabling existing machines to jet at greater viscosity and carry a significantly increased pigment load, delivering more colour vibrancy and capturing fine details with up to 50 per cent less ink.

Thanks to the unique architecture of Xaar’s Nitrox printheads and its Ultra High Viscosity & High Laydown Technologies, Marabu’s inks can be jetted at higher temperatures, improving the ease of application and speed of Kamman’s machines at jetting distances of up to 15mm.

Colours no longer need pinning, delivering significant savings in the time required for printing, as well as reductions in energy and material use.

Overall, by using these new inks from Marabu, the speed of production can be more than doubled, making inkjet print a greater reality for a wider variety of decorative applications.

Kammann’s Managing Director, Matthias Graf expressed his delight at the new developments: “This collaboration is not just about advancing technology; it’s about reshaping the future of digital printing.

“Xaar’s Ultra High Viscosity Technology and Nitrox printheads have enabled Marabu to develop inks that provide a real leap in innovation and sustainability, opening new possibilities for our decorative printing machines.

“By combining our technical expertise with Xaar and Marabu we have together been able to deliver higher quality, speed and sustainability in decorative inkjet printing, to both new and existing Kammann customers.”

Xaar’s Group R & D Director, Karl Forbes, also toasted the results of the cross-party collaboration: “Our partnership with Kammann and Marabu is a testament to what can be achieved when industry leaders unite.

“This breakthrough in Marabu’s ink technology, facilitated by Xaar’s high viscosity innovation and Kammann’s machine expertise, is set to revolutionise the market by defining new standards for decorative digital inkjet printing.”