The manufacturer’s revenue climbed by 3.5% compared with Q3 2017, to $257.1m (£202m), from $248.4m in Q3 2017, but its gross profit fell to $125.5m, down by 1.5% from the $127.4m recorded in the same period last year.
For the nine months ended 30 September 2018, the company has reported revenue of $758.1m, up 5% year-on-year compared to the $724.1m for the same period in 2017.
Speaking yesterday evening (29 October) in his first results call to investors since he was appointed as EFI’s new chief executive officer earlier this month, Bill Muir said: “I’ve already come to admire EFI’s culture on multiple fronts.
“The combination of courageous innovation, technical leadership and customer care is something special and I am thrilled to be a part of it. I see an exceptional group of individuals who are passionate about driving EFI’s success and I see exciting growth opportunities ahead of us.”
EFI reported Q3 Industrial Inkjet revenue of $154.9m, up 8.4% compared with Q3 2017, Productivity Software revenue of $40.5m, up 8.9% year-on-year, and Fiery revenue of $61.8m, down 9.5% year-on-year.
“The [Vutek] h3 is selling very well and we have received exceptional feedback from our customers, but we don’t yet have the new products available to meet demand at the high-end of this market,” said Muir.
“We will get there, and we will have an industry leading product when we do. But we have to accelerate our innovation timeline.”
He added: “In the textile segment of inkjet, our innovation is on track with the introduction of Bolt in Q4, which is our one-pass system derived from the Nozomi platform.
“Bolt will be shown publicly for the first time in just a couple of weeks to over 100 customers from around the world. And while we are not expecting anywhere near the first-year revenue growth we saw with Nozomi, in the long-term Bolt is a game changer in accelerating the digital transformation of textile.”
He added Q3 saw EFI finalise the development of the white ink option for the Nozomi and that the business – which shipped seven Nozomi presses in the quarter – has raised its full-year 2018 outlook for Nozomi revenues to $70m.
“Based upon the pipeline and customer demand, we expect this momentum to continue and we anticipate revenues of $120m in 2019.”
Muir said Fiery sales were “slightly above expectations” and that the company continues to see “good demand” for its corrugated software products.
Geographically, EFI recorded full-year sales of $134.5m, up by 3.9% on Q1 2017, $88.9m in EMEA countries – up 4.5% year-on-year, and $33.7m in the APAC region, down 0.05%.
Looking ahead, Muir said EFI needs to ensure that its various businesses “are operating in a more integrated fashion”.
“EFI has grown in part by acquiring terrific technology and brands. We need to more thoughtfully integrate those businesses, so they can scale and service a global market,” he said.
“We also need to improve our manufacturing processes so we can meet demand in a cost-effective repeatable manner. These are just a few of the areas where I see opportunity to instill greater discipline so EFI can scale to meet its potential.”
