Drupa News
Agfa's Roberts bullish over drop in sales
Agfa UK's managing director Laurence Roberts is anticipating an upturn in revenue after the graphics division posted a 6.3% drop in sales to 385m euro (£303m) during the second quarter.
The decrease from €411m over the same period in 2007 contributed to an 8.1% fall across the group as a whole where total sales fell to €777m from €845m.
However, Roberts said he is expecting results later in the year within the graphics division to offer a more positive showing once orders made at Drupa are taken into account.
"We took orders in excess of €100m at Drupa and £10m of that figure came from orders going to the UK market.
"These orders will be represented in our third and fourth quarter results so I anticipate a stronger second-half of the year."
The €100m-plus worth of orders at the recent trade show included deals for more than 100 Anapurna wide-format machines, as well as orders for its Avalon platesetter range.
Roberts said: "From a UK commercial point of view, it's been a good six months in general. Our consumables business is up 10% but overall, it's a mixed field with some good results and some not so strong."
Agfa's net financial debt was recorded at €737m, compared to €809m in the second quarter of 2007.
"On balance, our results have been reasonable so now we are looking forward," said Roberts.
Roberts: for the UK it has been a good six months
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Comments
Colin Thompson - 03 August 2008
Agfa are no different to many organisations at present - sales dropping, costing rising, lower net profit and in many cases net losses!
Some of the reasons;
British manufacturing showed its biggest slump for a decade and the next six months are forcasted to be even more decline. The manufacturing index dropped to 44.3 in July 2008, the lowest since December 1998, from 45.9 in June 2008.The forecast for August 2008 is nearer to 40!
The nunmber of firms going into administration rose 60% in the second quarter of 2008. While corporate receiverships increased 129%.
Also, the banks are pulling in or reducing overdrafts at a rapid pace, so plan carefully so you can survive this recession!
The real world is all about `Strategy Planning ` at `all` times to be successful, so plan now!
Colin Thompson
Cavendish
www.cavendish-mr.org.uk
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