The inkjet developer recorded a pre-tax profit of £28m on a turnover of £256.1m – up by 1% from £253.4m the previous year.

The positive results, which mark 31 years of unbroken sales growth since the company was founded in 1978, came despite a 19% drop in new equipment sales. However, this was more than compensated for by strong sales in aftermarket products.

Niche printing applications enabled by recent acquisitions by the company, including its Danish thermal transfer overprinter business Easyprint, and APS, a German thermal inkjet developer, helped to offset the decline.

Chairman Peter Byrom said: "The group has performed strongly in challenging economic conditions demonstrating the resilience of the business and the benefit of early action to reduce cost in anticipation of the global economic downturn.

"We are pleased with progress in our recently acquired businesses and have reported growth in revenues from all of our newer product ranges. We remain committed to a full programme of new product development and invested £11.5m in research and development."