The manufacturer’s revenue was up by 5% compared with Q1 2017, to $239.9m (£174.7m), from $228.7m in Q1 2017, but its gross profit fell back slightly to $119.1m, down by 3.4% from the $123.5m recorded in the same period a year prior.
EFI chief executive Guy Gecht said: “EFI started the year strong, reporting revenue results above our expectations, reinforcing our strategy to be the lead enabler in the digital transformation of industries where images really matter such as packaging, fashion, display graphics and building materials.
“We are far from realising the full potential of this strategy, but Q1 was a good step towards that goal.”
The company reported Q1 Industrial Inkjet revenue of $142.2m, up 15.4% compared with Q1 2017, Productivity Software revenue of $43.8m, up 24.9% year-on-year, and Fiery revenue of $53.9m, down 23.4% year-on-year.
“From a market segment perspective, we’re experiencing solid demand for both our textile and packaging portfolios. We are seeing this momentum continue into Q2, leading to a solid sequential and year-over-year outlook,” said Gecht.
He added the company is “very encouraged” by the growth in Productivity Software.
“The results were driven primarily by organic growth in almost all of our product lines and geographies, and we also saw some deals close that had been delayed from previous periods.
“As promised, we also strengthened the management team of this segment, recruiting seasoned general managers to focus on software for packaging, enterprise print and textile.
“We believe we’re seeing the early returns from the increased focus on those specific product lines, which enable our targeted industries to automate and transform the business workflow.”
Gecht said that while the Fiery results were “slightly weaker than expected”, the company now has “increased confidence in the statement we made last quarter that Q1 2018 is the bottom of the cycle.”
He added: “We did see a number of anticipated new product launches take place in the quarter, but in some cases they were not initially sold on the global basis.
“As we discussed last quarter, we are on track for revenues to bounce back to be approximately $60m per quarter for the remainder of the year.”
Geographically, EFI recorded full-year sales of $117.4m in the Americas – down by 6.4% on Q1 2017, $88.2m in EMEA countries – up 0.2% year-on-year, and $34.3m in the APAC region – up 11.5% year-on-year.
Gecht said EFI was pleased with the progress of Nozomi, with the manufacturer having shipped nine units to the end of Q1 2018, including four during the three-month period.
The company is anticipating to ship five Nozomi units in Q2, with seven planned for Q3.
“We are increasingly confident in our ability to generate $60m in revenues for Nozomi for the full year,” said Gecht.
He added display graphics hybrid printer sales were slower in Q1 in anticipation of a new platform to be introduced at Fespa, which will be held in Berlin from 15 to 18 May.
“With Q1 we passed perhaps the symbolic milestone of crossing the £1bn revenue mark for the trailing four quarters. I think this symbolises a new era for EFI, raising the bar in our game as we go after clearing the $1.5bn and $2bn marks,” said Gecht.
“With the entire company focus on getting back to our cadence of consistent performance, we are on track for another solid growth quarter in Q2 and, despite the headwind from the Fiery cycle, for increasing profitability for 2018.”
Last month EFI released Reggiani Colors, a new textile printer which offers up to 12 colours that can be printed in a row. This followed the Q1 2018 launch of two reconfigured Vutek HS hybrid flatbed/roll-to-roll printers, developed for high-volume out-of-home applications.
