The Israeli manufacturer of digital post-press systems had a torrid time last year, but gained fresh backing and revamped its business plan.

Preliminary figures for 2023 show sales of $8.4m (£6.6m) and an order backlog of $7m.

However, the company posted a loss of $26.9m due to write-offs and impairments, including a $5m inventory writedown.

CEO Shlomo Nimrodi said 2023 was a challenging year for the business, as the global economic slowdown negatively impacted new order intake.

“R&D costs increased as the company invested in the development of the new product platform for the corrugated market. While making good progress on this development, which resulted in multiple commitments from new customers to purchase the future product, the impact was that the company faced a cash crunch,” he said.

Chairman Alon Bar-Shany added: “Following multiple attempts to recover from the downturn, the company announced a series of actions in October 2023 that will result in a reduction of more than $10 million in 2024 operating expenses compared with 2023.”

“With the combination of these steps Highcon is back on track and with Drupa around the corner and the building relations with BHS we are cautiously optimistic about the future.”

Highcon said that at the last Drupa in 2016 it secured “tens of millions of dollars” of purchase orders and letters of intent for its Euclid and Beam systems, and it viewed Drupa 2024 as “an opportunity to ignite its business”.

Simon Lewis, SVP of marketing, strategy and business development, said the business was in a good position to capitalise on the show: “In anticipation for Drupa, we are pleased with the strong focus on Folding Carton we have seen in the last 12 months with ~$8 million in order taking.”

Highcon is traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange its biggest investors are Benny Landa’s Landa Ventures and JVP, led by Erel Margalit.

The firm's booth at the upcoming Drupa expo is adjacent to Landa Digital Printing, in Hall 9.