Well worth having a few of these in the portfolio. Digital printing and printers is the future and Xaar with an excelent product offering and a very capable management team are well worth backing. Xaar is certainly recovering from the fall out in the dot com era and is looking financialy very strong.
More to come.

PLEASE DYOR

cheers GF.

XAR Broker Targets.

Date Company Name Broker Rec. Price Old target price New target price Notes
17 Apr 14 Xaar PLC Jefferies International Buy 806.50 1,265.00 1,170.00 Reiterates
16 Apr 14 Xaar PLC Numis Buy 806.50 1,200.00 1,200.00 Upgrades
16 Apr 14 Xaar PLC Investec Buy 806.50 960.00 960.00 Upgrades
16 Apr 14 Xaar PLC N+1 Singer Corporate 806.50 - - Reiterates
16 Apr 14 Xaar PLC Finncap Hold 806.50 900.00 900.00 Retains
19 Mar 14 Xaar PLC Investec Add 806.50 1,180.00 960.00 Retains

StockMarketWire.com
Xaar Plc said visibility into 2015 is low and, as a result of the information available to it concerning the ceramic tile market in China, the group plans to take action to reduce costs in anticipation of total revenue for the year being below £100m.

"Monitoring of the ceramic tile market in China has indicated a further decline in activity resulting in excess manufacturing capacity being idled," the company said.

"As a consequence, forecast orders from Xaar's OEMs in this market for the remainder of the year have further reduced, such that the Board now expects total revenue for 2014 to be 5%-10% below the bottom of the previously announced range of £115-125 million."

It said action would be taken immediately to reduce costs in line with the reduced expectation for sales in 2015.

This was expected to result in a 15% reduction in operating expenditures, and potentially a total reduction in headcount (subject to consultation) of approximately 20% of the current global workforce of around 800 employees.

The cost reductions aim to achieve a reasonable level of financial operating performance in 2015, whilst ensuring that Xaar can fulfil its key strategic objectives.

In August, Xaar said demand for it products from the ceramic tile market had softened during Q3 as a result of a slowdown in construction activity in China.

"The Company's exposure to China is significant, as almost half of the world's ceramic tile output is reported as manufactured and consumed in China. Revenue into the global ceramic tile market represented around two thirds of the Group's sales in 2013."

Mirabaud comment:
"Xaar is a small cap stock these days, and off a lot of radar screens. Be thankful if you are off its share register too, for today’s IMS is truly awful and the share price is down over 30% . But it should receive wider attention, for their message that Chinese demand for ceramic tiles is collapsing has broader implications. Chinese apartments are typically sold after the first or second fix, with the buyers responsible for creating the interior finish. Ceramic tiles are used extensively. Or at least, they used to be. The sudden drop in demand suffered by Xaar suggests that few properties are finding buyers in China presently. Xaar’s kit is top-notch stuff, so this is a case of the market demand surprising on the downside, not Xaar taking the wrong products to the market. So, beware Chinese property exposure. Kingfisher’s Chinese B&Q turnaround looks unlikely to speed up anytime soon, we would suggest.
Don’t be too surprised of someone, perhaps Domino Printing Sciences takes a pop at Xaar; it is packed full of IP and is attempting to take its technology to a broader range of sectors. Success there will be very accretive to value, and many manufacturers of industrial machinery will be tempted to look at it. Key to future value is Xaar’s attempts to transplant its technology into new sectors and increase the addressable markets it faces. Right now, the stock has seen its EV collapse by around 80%, on a reduction in expected sales of almost 40%.
In terms of near term earnings, Xaar is still not cheap; we would expect downgrades today to leave earnings forecasts for 2015 and beyond cut by perhaps 50%, and given the cost of redundancies, the 2014 number will be hugely impacted too. The visibility in the business is limited and one cannot rule out further weakness in sales, even after today’s savage reductions to forecasts.
But with around £50m of cash in the bank, Xaar will see this through to the end, assuming no-one makes an offer they cannot refuse. A take-out could be far, far above the current share price, given where the stock has traded in the past, and the potential for broadening the addressable market. But the stock will lack near term earnings support, making it a tricky proposition.
By way of example though, if Domino Printing Sciences were to bid 350p for Xaar, it would cost them circa £270m, and assuming some head office cost savings, ought to bring in about £20m of EBIT to the group, before considering any sales and R&D synergies. That would boost their EBIT by around a third. The Group would need to borrow perhaps £200m, taking net debt to EBITDA to around 2.5x and assuming an interest charge of 5%, the deal would increase PBT by circa £10m or 18%, with a similar increment to earnings.
Given that the two companies are based around five miles apart from each other, cost synergies ought to be pretty straightforward to achieve. And if the numbers stack up for DNO, they will likely stack up for others and whilst Chinese construction and urbanisation might not be in great shape right now, in the long run, it is a market segment that many, many industrials would like to raise exposure to.
You might not wish to take on board the ongoing earnings risk at Xaar, but we would suggest that it could be a very dangerous short to put on too."

Stay clear.

Thanks mirabaud very interesting comment.

I mean thanks for posting hurry at

Harrycat. Damn autocorrect

LONDON (Sharecast) - (ShareCast News) - Shares in inkjet printer company Xaar were up after the company posted a drop in pre-tax profit but better margins.
At 1444 BST shares had gained almost 10% to 495.25p.

Xaar reported a first half pre-tax profit of £9.1m, reduced from £16.1m in the first half of last year but ahead of the £8.5m in the six months immediately prior.

Revenue dropped to £47.8m from £60.4m in the first half of 2014 or £48.8m in the second half of 2014.

Operating margins were 19% on an adjusted basis, which was stronger than the board expected at the beginning of the year.

Dividend per share was up, at 3.15p from 3p in the same period last year.

Chairman Phil Lawler said the company had achieved stability after a challenging 2014, and intended to return to growth next year.

"Although visibility of demand remains limited, particularly in China, based on the sales performance in the first half of the year the board expects 2015 full year revenue to be in the range of £92-95m," Lawler said.

Investec, whose rating on the stock was under review, said Xaar's first half profit outturn was better than expected off the stronger gross margin.

results next time round, as stated usually s/p to fall beware , now top heavy
broker targets ect but if buying continues, sucked in who knows, 600p ? BB

30 sept s/p 560 forcast rev f year 92 m eps 18 ( 27 ) in 2014 directors sell
aug 2015 @ 479 I say again s/p top heavy.

still falling the china drop off, effect on profit next results flat to decrease
s/p 428p today , . to fall further will not have any at this price BB

StockMarketWire.com
Xaar is to invest with Stratasys, a global leader in additive manufacturing, in a newly formed company, Xaar 3D Limited, to develop 3D printing solutions based on High Speed Sintering technologies.

Xaar 3D Ltd will leverage the natural synergies between Xaar and Stratasys, specifically Xaar's technology relating to High Speed Sintering and industrial piezo inkjet printheads, along with the commercial and market expertise of Stratasys.

Xaar will hold 85% of Xaar 3D Ltd shares with Stratasys holding 15%. In addition, Stratasys has been granted an option to increase its ownership in Xaar 3D Ltd to a total of 30%. Xaar 3D Ltd will hold all of Xaar's High Speed Sintering assets. The new company's board will be chaired by Xaar CEO, Doug Edwards.

StockMarketWire.com
Inkjet printing technology group Xaar swung to a first-half loss and cut its dividend, amid an ongoing decline in its legacy ceramics business and a slower-than-expected update of new products.

Pre-tax losses for the six months through June amounted to £1.1m, compared to profits of £5.7m on-year.

Revenue slumped 20% to £35.3m.

The company declared an interim dividend of 1.0p per share, down from 3.4p on-year.

'The long term opportunity for Xaar remains very significant, but trading continues to be impacted by the aggressive decline in our ceramics business, and the unpredictability of the adoption of our new products,' chief executive Doug Edwards said.

'Despite these headwinds, we are continuing to hit important strategic milestones for our transformation across our three business units, where Xaar owns world-leading technology.'