Xaar Share News (XAR)

Ink jet printing technology companies are prominent in the best performers on TechMARK. Printing equipment manufacturer Domino Printing Sciences says that trading is continuing to improve. Revenues were 19% ahead in the four months to February 2010. All the main regions improved their revenues but the strongest growth was in Asia. The general trading outlook remains uncertain. Net cash was £11.5m at the end of February. Print heads developer Xaar reported a loss for 2009 on flat revenues of £42.1m. However, the loss was mainly down to the costs of moving production from the company's Swedish factory to Huntingdon. Underlying profits declined from £2.8m to £2.6m. The final dividend was maintained at 1.5p a share, making the total for the year 2.5p a share.Sales in Asia are recovering but Europe declined. Graphic arts was a weak sector but industrial is growing thanks to volume demand for digital printing of ceramics. Other new areas are taking time to build up volumes. House broker Singer expects a sharp recovery in profit this year to £4.6m. Operating margins are expected to move ahead from 6% to 10%. That is before there are any significant cost savings from the factory move. It will not be until 2011 that the majority of the £2m of savings will show through. Net cash was £11.1m at the end of 2009. The total cost of the factory move will be £7m and much of this has already been spent. Citigroup has downgraded pharmaceuticals company Shire from buy to sell. Citigroup says: "We like the strategy, we like the management, but we find the valuation full and in current markets recommend that investors should take profits from the near doubling over the past 12 months and revisit the shares later."FTSE TechMARK - RisersCML Microsystems (CML) 53.00p +13.98%Aveva Group (AVV) 1,204.00p +4.79%Electronic Data Processing (EDP) 44.50p +4.71%Domino Printing (DNO) 375.50p +4.31%Torotrak (TRK) 26.50p +3.92%Phoenix IT Group (PNX) 281.50p +3.87%Trafficmaster (TFC) 36.75p +3.52%Parity Group (PTY) 10.00p +2.56%Xaar (XAR) 82.50p +2.48%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,775.00p +2.25%FTSE TechMARK - FallersComputacenter (CCC) 302.70p -3.01%Vislink (VLK) 24.25p -3.00%Vernalis (VER) 73.00p -2.67%XP Power (XPP) 425.00p -2.30%BTG (BGC) 180.00p -1.91%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,438.00p -1.91%Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 250.75p -1.67%Vectura Group (VEC) 64.00p -1.54%Kofax (KFX) 235.00p -1.26%BT Group (BT.A) 124.90p -1.19%