Xaar Regulatory News (XAR)

Xaar plc

Scheduled Trading Statement

Xaar plc ("Xaar" or the "Group"), a world leader in industrial inkjet technology, provides its scheduled trading update for the six months ended 30 June 2019.

Trading is in line with the Board's expectations and Xaar expects to report revenue of approximately £23 million for the six months ended 30 June 2019. Overall revenue for the first half was £27 million however this was impacted by approximately £4 million of revenue reversal regarding Xaar 1201 inventory being returned to the business. We anticipate selling this inventory in the second half of the year. Cash at 30 June 2019 was £21.6 million.

Excluding one-time Royalties of approximately £10 million in H1 2018 and the prior years' revenue reversal of approximately £4 million in H1 2019, revenue grew by 8%.

Underlying trading in the Printhead business has stabilised after the declines of 2018 with growth in the Industrial and Packaging segments. Growth in Industrials came from Ceramics, Décor and Advanced Manufacturing, while in Packaging growth came from Coding and Marking. As referenced above, approximately £4 million revenue in the Graphics segment has been reversed due to Xaar 1201 inventory being returned for rework due to age. We have subsequently regained control of this inventory in order to drive payment recovery and explore broader channel options. Key new printhead products have shown good growth in the first half; Xaar 2001 (43%), Xaar 501 (88%) and in particular Xaar 5601 (490%) which continues to be very positively received by customers as recently witnessed at the ITMA textile printing show in Barcelona.

Our Product Print Systems business grew by 41% driven by growth in inkjet and pad printing equipment as well as consumables.

Xaar 3D Printing is on plan with strong positive customer feedback for our new printer and we continue to work closely with Stratasys on the next phase of our partnership.

Cash balances of £21.6 million at 30 June 2019 are in line with expectations, reflecting the improved working capital profile of the business. We continue to work diligently at improving our working capital and anticipate further progress through the second half of the year.

We have advanced on our strategic review of the Thin Film business and will provide an update on progress at the half year results due to be announced on 10 September 2019.

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About XaarXaar is a world leader in the development of digital inkjet technology. Our technology drives the conversion of analogue printing and manufacturing methods to digital inkjet which is more efficient, more economical and more productive than the traditional methods which have been in use for years. We design and manufacture printheads as well as systems for product decoration and industrial 3D Printing which use our inkjet technology. We are the only truly independent inkjet technology company with over 25 years of know how. We offer unrivalled inkjet expertise including technology and printhead design and development, and manufacture highly customised product decoration systems and industrial 3D Printing for volume manufacturing. Our unique technologies and products are the leading enabler for innovation and for driving supply chain efficiencies for many industries. Information about Xaar is at www.xaar.com