Net income for the same quarter was nearly 10m and the firm said it was confident it would grow.

Meanwhile total revenues for the nine months of this year dropped 3.6% from a year ago to 1.35bn. But net income rose just over a half to 36m.

"In due course the further growth of the population of machines will lead to growing income flows," said chairman of the executive directors Rokus van Iperen.

Sales of the second-generation colour printer Oc CPS900 were going well, he said, adding that advanced colour technology would help it notch up a big increase in its market share.

Oc's VarioPrint 2110 was also boosting competitiveness in high-volume black-and-white printing.

Demand for the two new systems is outstripping the production capacity. An increase in production is expected to make good the delivery backlog in the near future.

Net income for the full financial year is expected to reach up to 55m.