"It is encouraging to note that Oc has been able to sustain the positive trend shown in the previous quarter," said chairman Rokus van Iperen. "Thanks to the success of new products in particular and to our strengthened focus on marketing and sales, non recurring revenues are clearly showing an upward trend. We also expect recurring revenues to pick up in due course."

The first products made by the firm in Central Europe and the Far East will be available before the end of the financial year following agreement with the Works Council and unions on an acceptable social plan.

175 workers were laid off from its Venlo site, which made sub-assemblies and low-volume wide-format printers. It took a one-off charge of  5.2m (7.7m) in the fourth quarter of 2003 as a result.

Net income for the first quarter 2004 fell 19% to 11.5m on revenues down 8% to 416m. It attributed the fall in revenues to the strength of the Euro.