Growth in its Platform 3 series, especially within the EMEA region, helped increase sales by £7.8m over the same period in 2010.

First half EMEA revenues now represent 57% of the manufacturer's global sales after rising 78% from £10.1m to £18.1m.

According to Ian Dinwoodie, chief executive of Xaar, substantial demand for its Platform 3 heads from ceramic companies in Europe catalysed the upswing.

"The switch to digital within the ceramics industry is the fastest rate of conversion I have seen. And although these machines are being placed globally, the majority of our sales are initially into Europe, which is reflected in these figures," he added.

Elsewhere, Asia makes up 32% of the company's sales with 11% stemming from the Americas.

Adjusted pre-tax profit trebled over the same period last year, up to £4.3m while product sales of £28.2m and royalty revenue, up £0.2m to £3.3m, contributed to half-year sales.

Xaar is also pressing ahead with the completion of the early stages of the P3 capacity expansion programme at its UK Huntingdon facility, which Dinwoodie said was both in budget and on track.

However, sales of the company's maturing Platform 1 products were slowing at a greater rate than expected, according to Dinwoodie with sales down on last year.

According to Phil Lawler, chairman of Xaar, said: "Although uncertainties remain, we believe that the market for P3 products will continue to be strong and that our new manufacturing capacity will enable us to capitalise on this demand

"Although we assume that competition will develop over time, the barriers to entry are high and we believe that our disruptive technology, combined with our management experience, technical skill, talent and resources, will enable us to maintain our competitive edge for a sustained period."