The Cambridge-headquartered inkjet developer’s total reported result for the year consisted of a pre-tax loss of £2.4m, compared to a pre-tax profit of £0.8m in 2022. Xaar said all of this “resulted from continuing operations and is attributable to the owners of the group”.
After factoring in the impact of adjusting items, the group reported an adjusted pre-tax profit of £2.9m, compared to £2.8m in 2022, which was in line with board expectations.
The company’s gross profit was £26.9m, down 6% on last year, while its gross margin was down by one percentage point on last year to 38%. Xaar said its margin benefitted from actions to mitigate input cost increases and increased operational leverage.
Outlining highlights, the company said it had an increasing number of customers in development, and enhanced relationships with end customers, with additional product launches expected in 2024 and anticipated recovery in key markets.
It was also making further operational progress in Engineered Printing Solutions (EPS), which delivered strong revenue growth, and good performances from FFEI and Megnajet.
Furthermore, the company said that the first phase of its operational efficiency programme has been completed, with factory re-organisation delivered on time and under budget, delivering cost savings and increased capacity.
A cost reduction plan is also in place to navigate current market conditions.
CEO John Mills commented: “Whilst the external trading environment remains challenging, we have a clear plan in place and remain focused on the delivery of our strategy and taking advantage of the significant opportunities we have that will drive profitable growth.
“Our products continue to generate strong interest from customers, demonstrating our leadership in printing highly viscous fluids with all the performance and sustainability benefits they deliver.
“Due to the current market conditions, adoption of our customers’ products is taking longer than expected, impacting our revenue, however, we have put in place a cost action plan to mitigate this. We remain optimistic about the future, being well placed to benefit as the trading environment improves.
“With a substantial market opportunity and the progress made, we remain well positioned to realise our exciting potential.”
Xaar said it had a healthy balance sheet, with net cash of £7.1m.
Additionally, the company said it spent £5.6m on R&D in 2023 - with a focus on the ImagineX platform, down 17% from £6.7m last year.
Mills told Printweek: “We’ve invested £4m over the last three years developing a new custom ASIC for the printhead, which will unlock higher speeds, higher resolution, and the ability to change the voltage and waveform for each nozzle and for each drop that comes out.
“These are really significant benefits and features, but that expenditure has actually come to an end, so part of that [R&D] decrease has just been that one of the biggest projects we’ve had is naturally coming to an end.
“We’re going to divert some of the R&D resource to make sure that some of the customers that are in the pipeline get over the line this year, but we’re still very much focused on the higher resolution and higher speeds that will come through from the ImagineX platform.”
Mills hailed 3D printing as one of the company’s biggest areas of opportunity as “I think that’s where the unique materials that we can print really drive the value proposition of the business”.
He also commented: “Generally, having had a really tough year last year, when we talk to the OEMs, there is starting to be a sense of a little more optimism around, but nobody is keen on getting carried away.
“Interest rates are a big factor in terms of capital equipment purchases, and interest rates coming down around the world will help the general market conditions enormously, not just for us but for everybody.”
Xaar’s share price was down by around 6% on yesterday’s close at the time of writing just before lunchtime today (26 March), at 102.52p (52-week high: 214p, low: 90.24p).
