In a trading update at its AGM held yesterday (2 June), chairman Andrew Herbert praised the “tremendous resilience” of the Xaar team in adapting to new working conditions.

“As a result the business has been able to operate efficiently and continue to meet its commitments to customers,” he said.

He said that overall trading in the first four months of the Cambridge-headquartered group’s new financial year has been “in line with the expectation we established before the Covid-19 outbreak”. 

“Sales have been weaker in Europe and North America but stronger in Asia where economies have come out of lockdown sooner. Our short-term order book is healthy but the outlook for the second half of the year remains uncertain and it is too early to assess the impact of the pandemic on the results for the full year 2020 and into 2021.”

Xaar’s board said the business would re-establish guidance on expectations as more economies emerge from lockdown, and there was greater certainty about economic conditions.

It said it had begun the new financial year with a strong balance sheet “and an appropriate level of funding to support its strategy”.

“We remain confident and focused on our medium-term strategy to return the business to profitability and growth,” the firm said.