Van Iperen spoke to PrintWeek as the Dutch digital manufacturer released its fourth-quarter results for the three months from September to November 2010, before it aligns its financial reporting with Canon, whose financial year commences on 1 January 2011.

Total revenues for the quarter came in at €715m (£615m), up 5% from €683m in the same quarter the previous year. Normalised operating income was also up from €15m in 2009 to €29m the same quarter last year.

Revenues within the company's digital document systems division amounted to €386m, an organic sales decline of 4%. However, Van Iperen said that the launch of new inkjet machines such as the Océ ColorStream 3500 would be a "breakthrough" for printing sectors such as transactional, transpromo and publishing.

Elsewhere, Océ's wide-format printing systems operation experienced 5% growth with revenues increasing to €208m According to Van Iperen, the company continues to enjoy steady growth from its Arizona family of flatbeds while more customers migrate to wide-format digital colour.  

He added: "Customers continued to be cost conscious amid ongoing economic uncertainty, but revenue development improved versus the trend of previous years.

"Wide-format revenues showed recovery, mainly driven by printer sales in the display graphics markets."

Regarding its acquisition by Canon, Océ said that during 2010 it focused on three key areas of cross selling, preparation of integration and joint product development.

According to the company, teams from Canon and Océ research and development are jointly creating small format and wide-format printing systems. Van Iperen said that the initial products developed through this partnership will be seen this year.

The company added that its main priority in 2011 was to grow the business by strengthening its position in mature markets, expanding in growth markets such as the graphic arts and document services and boosting cross-selling opportunities with Canon.