"It will only be shown at Fespa to existing NUR customers and those who have expressed an interest. We felt that rather than being the first flatbed on the market, it was more important to have the best," said NUR sales manager for UK & Ireland Stephen Lakin. The new flatbed will be up against Inca Digital, Vutek and Scitex machines.

Lakin said the new flatbed, which will be priced around the 345,000 mark, would ship in the last quarter of the year.

NUR has implemented a growth plan after disappointing first-quarter results caused by weak North American and Japanese markets. The measures include the loss of 60 jobs 15% of the workforce salary cuts across the board and new products, which it hopes will increase its market share.

For the first quarter of the year NUR recorded revenues of 14.77m ($21.4m), 32% less than the same period last year. The company also recorded a net loss of 2.62m, compared to a net loss of 4.48m in the same period last year.

NUR Macroprinters chief executive Erez Shachar said he believed that the recent re-engineering of the companys Fresco line of printers would help it to regain market share.

"At the International Sign Expo in Orlando our entire product line generated an enormous amount of attention," said Shachar.

Story by John Davies