Press Centre

Xaar plc (“Xaar”), the inkjet printing technology group headquartered in Cambridge, has announced its unaudited results for the six months ended 30 June 2005.

KEY POINTS:

• The results show continued strong growth in sales, profit and cash.
• To provide for future sales growth and the launch of new products, Xaar is to invest £10m in a major new manufacturing plant to be established in the UK.
• The financial results (reported under IFRS) were:
  • Turnover was up 19% to £19.8m (2004: £16.6m);
  • Profit from operations* jumped by 86% to £4.6m (2004: £2.5m);
  • Margin from operations* improved to 23% (2004: 14%);
  • Profit before tax was £3.5m (2004: £1.3m);
  • Earnings per share* were 5.6p (2004: 3.0p);
  • Net cash and liquid resources at 30 June 2005 increased to £17.5m (2004: £9.9m); and
  • The net effect of adopting IFRS was to increase profit before tax by £0.3m (2004: £0.1m).
    *stated before non-trading foreign exchange movements on inter-company loan: loss of £1.3m (2004: loss of £1.3m)
• Increased sales were achieved in each principal territory and industry segment.
• Although an interim dividend is not being paid (2004: nil), a final dividend for the year is expected to be declared (2004: 1p).
• Successful launch of Xaar’s new OmniDot product range with equipment from Agfa already commercialised.
• Business development is yielding initial development revenues from new markets.
• A minority investment has been made in integration partner, Xennia Technology.
• Robert Eckelmann, formerly with Intel, has been appointed as a non-executive director.

On outlook, Chairman, Arie Rosenfeld stated:

“All of our core markets met or exceeded expectations during the period and the board expects to achieve a satisfactory result for the year as a whole.”

Please click here to view the full press release - word document

For more information, please contact:

Xaar plc: 01223-423663
Nigel Berry, Group Finance Director & Deputy Chief Executive
W: www.xaar.co.uk

Bankside Consultants: 020-7367-8883 / 07802-888159
Steve Liebmann