Edwards joined the business in January, and has now completed the handover process with outgoing chief executive Ian Dinwoodie.
Following an annus horribilis, where a slowdown in the Chinese ceramic printing industry that made up two-thirds of the firm’s sales hit the company’s results and resulted in some 20% of its global workforce being laid off, Edwards outlined a number of areas where he expected to expand take-up of the firm’s products.
Edwards was upbeat about future prospects, while acknowledging it had been a difficult year for the business.
He told PrintWeek that a number of potential partners were exploring new applications for its thin film P4 head range, including commercial print, textiles and laminates. Graphic arts currently accounts for just 10% of group sales, which were down 20% to £109.2m for the year to 31 December 2014.
“In commercial print, inkjet has largely been used in high-volume applications. Where it hasn’t yet is in mid-volume, where there’s an opportunity to replace all those EPS sheetfed devices that are out there. It’s a significant area and we will look to partner in that space,” Edwards said.
“We are looking to broaden our play in graphics with the P4 platform,” he added.
In packaging, Edwards said he was optimistic regarding the future uptake of direct-to-shape inkjet printing onto containers. “This has real promise and there are signs of major brand owners looking to get on board,” he said.
The firm is also rolling out its new 501 head in some wide-format UV applications, with a version for solvent inks to follow. Xaar claims two-thirds of wide-format devices currently use technology from Xaar or its licensees.
Edwards said Xaar also intended to capitalise on the ability of its 1002 head to jet viscous and abrasive inks in the advanced industrial manufacturing space, such as for touchscreens and 3D printing. “That’s a key differentiator of our printhead and there are many new applications for it,” he stated.
However, plans to broaden its offering were held back by technical delays to the roll-out of the 501 and 001 heads, and the company was “cautious” about its likely short-term performance.
Xaar’s operating margins for the year fell from 30.4% to 22.2% excluding restructuring costs. Finance director Alex Bevis said the impact of having some excess manufacturing capacity for the time being was likely to result in margins of around 20%.
The group has also proposed the closure of its ageing Swedish manufacturing facility, which employs around 110 staff and makes older-generation products. This manufacturing requirement would be absorbed into Huntingdon. The closure is likely to cost around £5m.
Pre-tax profits fell from £40m to £23.1m, although Xaar described its record 2013 results as “exceptional”, with “unsustainably high asset utilisation”.
Net R&D spend reduced from £16.4m to £11.8m, although the firm is protecting key areas of R&D investment.
Xaar is now predicting turnover of circa £90m in this year, described as a “stabilisation” period, with a return to growth in 2016.
The firm’s share price fell by 4p, or 1.11%, to 357.75p in early trading. (52-week high 938p, low 222p.)
Earlier this month, former Kodak global HR executive Jim Brault joined the Xaar board in the new role of chief human resources officer.
