Global group sales rose slightly, up 0.3% to €664m (£567.5m) as pre-tax profits quadrupled to €28m. Sales within its global graphics operations rose 9.5%, particularly buoyed by emerging markets and a 12% rise in the US.

"This year, without a doubt, is better," said Agfa UK MD Laurence Roberts. "The UK market is growing again, but it isn't back to where it was in 2008. Ask me again at the end of June when we can see how the 10 days of Ipex have translated into business for the second half of the year. The signs are good at the moment that we will have a year that is somewhere approaching the 2008 figure when we had Drupa."

Roberts said that Agfa had had a successful first day at Ipex, although several expected customers had been held up due to ash cloud delays and concerns over the threat of a British Airways strike.

"There is a good buzz about. But that has to translate into money. Some of the business we will do we already know about. But others will come to the show to compare competitors, then walk around until they get the best deal. By this weekend we will have a pretty good feel for how successful Ipex will be for us."

The consumables business was recovering quicker than the equipment business, helped by the election and the World Cup, he added. "You would expect that use of plates and consumable to be up as we're consuming a lot more print.

"However, you don't expect companies to start buying presses just yet until they're certain that the recovery is underway. That big investment will always lag the consumables market."

The nadir, he said, was at the beginning of last year, but confidence was now returning. "We have a new government and it will take a while for us to see whether Cameron and Clegg know what they're doing. But it is better than last year," added Roberts.