Stellar Volume Growth At Agfa’s Digital Print & Chemicals Division Provides A Welcome Positive Highlight Amid Challenging Q2 2022 Financial Results

PRESS ROOM

25 Aug

Written By Debbie Mckeegan

“Operationally, the second quarter reflects the current inflationary environment as well as the impact of China lockdowns. The Group’s top line growth was driven by volume growth in the Digital Print & Chemicals division and pricing actions in the Offset Solutions division. We experienced the full impact of cost inflation and supply chain issues on our profitability and working capital in the second quarter,” said Pascal Juéry, President and CEO of the Agfa-Gevaert Group.

In the field of digital print, the top line of the sign & display business continued to grow.

The ink product ranges for sign & display applications continued to perform well, clearly exceeding pre-COVID levels.

In spite of industry-wide logistic challenges for the high-end equipment, the top line of the wide-format printing equipment business continued to recover from the strong COVID-19 impact.

Especially for the larger printers, the order book has grown with a double digit percentage since the start of the year.

At the Fespa trade show on June 1, Agfa announced the closing of the acquisition of Inca Digital Printers, a UK based leading developer and manufacturer of advanced high speed printing and production technologies for sign and display applications as well as for the rapidly growing digital printing market for packaging.

The integration of the activities is evolving as planned and Agfa’s inks are being certified for use on the Onset printer range.

At the Printing United Expo (Las Vegas –October, 19-21), Inca’s Onset printing engine will be shown printing with Agfa’s inks for the first time.

Agfa recently received orders for two units of the newly released InterioJet 2250i system for printing on décor paper used for interior decoration, such as laminate floors and furniture.

These orders confirm Agfa’s technological leadership in this field. The systems will be installed in the coming quarters.

A further ramp up of the order intake for InterioJet is expected over the next quarters.

Outlook

The Agfa-Gevaert Group expects a continuing impact of cost inflation, supply chain issues and the uncertain geopolitical and economic situation in the coming quarters.

Potential COVID-related lockdowns in China and other COVID-related effects might also have an impact.

The Group is taking all necessary actions to operate in an increasingly complex business environment.

Additional price actions are being taken to tackle cost inflation.

Assuming that the uncertainty in most markets will not deteriorate, the second half of the year is expected to be better thanks to additional pricing actions coming into effect.

Overall, the Agfa-Gevaert Group continues to focus on working capital improvements and cost management.

The ongoing transformation actions are well on track and are expected to bring more agility and to further simplify the operations of the Group.

They will also allow the Group to further reduce its costs from 2023 onwards.