Equipment sales grew 11% in Q4, with colour installations up 19%, reflecting strong sales of the Xerox DocuColor 6060 and DocuColor iGen3 digital colour presses, as well as the DocuColor 5252, launched in October last year.

Xerox chairman and chief executive Anne Mulcahy said some 60% of all products sold within the fourth quarter had been generated from products launched in the past two years.

She said Xerox would continue to lead the new business of printing by helping commercial printers make the transition from offset to digital.

It also reported a 22% rise in Q4 for its monochrome print devices, as demand increased for its competitively priced products.

Xerox saw a slight rise in fourth quarter total revenues to 2.3bn ($4.2bn), while net income jumped from 10.4m to 122m on the same period in 2002.

During the fourth quarter Xerox reported a restructuring charge of 66m, comprising severance payments and pension settlements relating to restructuring within the group.

byAndy Scott