Agfa’s first quarter earnings were down 36% pcp to 15 million Euro but the Belgium-based print technology company says most of its business units are showing signs of recovery, led by Health Care IT, ink products for sign & display applications, and large format printing equipment.
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| Agfa’s Jeti Tauro H3300 LED wide format inkjet printer |
“In the field of digital print, the ink product ranges for sign & display applications continued to perform well,” said Agfa-Gevaert in its First Quarter financial statement. “The large-format printing equipment business started to recover from the strong COVID-19 impact. Sales were still significantly lower than in the first quarter of 2020, but the order book for this business is growing. Agfa continues to invest in its innovative product portfolio in order to be ready for the post-COVID market rebound. In the first quarter, the division introduced the fastest Jeti Tauro inkjet printer to date, targeting the high end of the sign & display market.
“The sales of inks for industrial applications continued to grow strongly, partly due to the solutions for new digital printing applications, such as laminate floorings and leather.
“Volumes of the division’s film and foil products continued to recover, be it at different paces. These products are mostly used in industries that have been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, including aeronautics, the oil and gas industry and the printing industry. Sales figures for the SYNAPS range of synthetic papers are expected to pick up strongly in the coming quarters.”
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| "Business momentum to continue": Agfa CEO Pascal Juéry |
Pascal Juéry, president and CEO of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, said: “In the seasonally weaker first quarter, the growth engines in the HealthCare IT and Digital Print & Chemicals divisions reported solid margin performances, which were offset by volume declines for some of our traditional products, as well as inflationary pressure.
“Our disciplined working capital management and our broad cost reduction program continued to be successful. Additionally, several divisions announced price increase programs, which will allow us - when they will be in full effect - to mitigate the impact of raw material, packaging and freight cost inflation on our profitability.
“In these first months of the year, we saw encouraging business developments for most of our activities. We expect the business momentum to continue in the second quarter.”
Compared to the first quarter of 2020 when the impact of COVID-19 was still limited, the Agfa-Gevaert Group’s revenue decreased by 6.2% (excluding currency effects). Inflationary pressure added to the impact of the pandemic, the company said. “Other adverse elements were the structural market decline in the offset printing industry and the new centralized procurement practices for medical film in China. The HealthCare IT division and several growth engines of the Digital Print & Chemicals division continued to perform well.”
Adjusted EBITDA decreased from 24 million Euro (5.5% of revenue) in the first quarter of 2020 to 15 million Euro (3.9% of revenue). Adjusted EBIT fell to minus 1 million Euro, from 7 million Euro in the first quarter of 2020. The Agfa-Gevaert Group posted a net loss of 6 million Euro.
More details here.
