Consolidated revenues for the year amounted to 46.22 million euro, a decrease of 1.95 per cent compared to 47.14 million euro in fiscal year 2004, and net profit amounted to 11.40 million euro, a decrease of 9.87 per cent compared to a net profit of 12.65 million euro in fiscal 2004. Gross margin for the year amounted to 82.69 per cent compared to 82.75 per cent in fiscal year 2004.
The first quarter was the best quarter ever in terms of revenue (with a constant exchange rate compared to two years ago). One of the drivers for the first quarter was Graph Expo in Chicago, USA, from October 10-13, 2004. During the show visitors were able to get the first U.S. look at the new products shown at drupa 2004. Order in-take for the show amounted to $2.1 million during the four days (an increase of 17 per cent over the last edition), which was a success beyond expectations and reflected a US industry on the rebound.
During the second quarter of fiscal year 2005 Artwork Systems hosted the Certified
PDF seminar in Brussels (March 3 and 4, 2005) to launch PA:CT – Packaging: Certified Technology. The technology is based on the Certified PDF technology from daughter company Enfocus Software and it was the first time that it was presented to such a large audience. The seminar was a great success with more than 170 participants from 15 different countries attending the event.
Business wise, the second quarter was weak, but this was made up for during a stronger second semester, traditionally the weakest semester. The third quarter saw a healthy increase in business and the company experienced a solid demand for the whole of the product lines in all of its major geographic markets. The sale to Sandy Alexander in the U.S. was a good example of this.
During the fourth quarter Artwork Systems participated in two major trade shows, Print 05 (from Sep 9-15, in Chicago, U.S.A.) and LabelExpo 2005 (from Sep 21-24, in Brussels, Belgium), where more new products were introduced than at drupa: Odystar Packaging, inPDF (a PDF link for Adobe Illustrator), Concentric Screening, and Enfocus PitStop Automate. The exhibition also marked a definite breakthrough for Odystar in the U.S. with a total of 12 systems sold. The revenue generated from the sales will run into the first quarter of the new fiscal year that started on October 1, 2005, and will definitely contribute to a good start. The decrease of the US dollar had a negative impact of 1.8 per cent on net revenue of fiscal year 2005.
During fiscal year 2005, products represented 68 per cent of the total net revenue and
services represented 32 per cent. Within the product segment, the split in revenue was as
follows: the ArtPro product range amounted to 27 per cent, the Nexus product range amounted to 38 per cent, the Odystar product range amounted to 5 per cent and the Enfocus product range amounted to 30 per cent.
The percentage of revenues for each regional market remained relatively stable compared to fiscal year 2004. The share of Europe increased from 51 per cent to 52 per cent and the Americas decreased from 43 per cent to 41 per cent. Asia’s share remained stable at 4 per cent and the Rest of the World increased from 2 per cent to 3 per cent. “Our Odystar business is starting to live up to our expectations as we experience increased customer demand,“ says Guido Van der Schueren, Chairman of the Board. “In addition, we anticipate that the demand for the new products introduced recently will increase throughout 2006, balanced by normal seasonality.”
