It is building a factory in Germany with an annual production capacity of 20m m2, to begin production in late 2006. The firm provided no further details of the site, but industry insiders have suggested it is near Dresden. Currently, European supplies of its PTP plate are  made under contract by a third-party, believed to be Spanish firm Ipagsa.

Earnings for the year more than doubled  to 6.2m ($11.5m), compared to 3m in 2003 on revenues which were up 10% to 343.3m. Consumables revenue grew by 62.3% to 41.5m.

"Creo's performance in 2004 establishes a strong foundation for growth in earnings and shareholder value," said chief executive Amos Michelson. "We doubled earnings and demonstrated tremendous growth in our first year as a digital plate vendor, exceeding our goal to increase consumables revenue by 50%."

Costs from its restructuring plan pushed the firm into the red in the fourth quarter with a loss of 700,000 on sales up 11.2% to 90.2m.

Consumables revenue was 13.1m, up 105.2% year on year and 12.6% on the third quarter of 2004.

Chief financial officer Mark Dance said: "We are expecting a 10% growth of overall revenue in 2005 and a second year of 50% plus growth in consumables."

Dance added that the firm expected stable revenues in the first quarter of 2005 and that the effects of its cost reduction initiatives would start to be felt in the second quarter, before becoming fully apparent in the third quarter.

Story by Barney Cox