In the fourth quarter, the Americas fell 19%, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) fell 11%, Japan dropped 26% – but ‘Other international locations’ almost doubled, up 91%.

Inkjet printing technology also helped the US supplier prop up a big revenue decline in its Fiery division in fourth quarter. The company is planning to make more waves in the digital arena with the launch of the QS220 UV flatbed printer (pictured).

The Fiery division posted a year-on-year drop of 34%, while its inkjet division improved in Q4 after a difficult year.

However, despite the falls in revenues, the company made significant steps toward profitability. It made a net loss of $3.4m in Q4 2009, compared with a net loss of $104.5m in Q4 2008. 

Total Q4 revenues were down 18% to US$114m ($A126m) from US$135.3m in 2008, forming part of a full-year revenue decline of 28% to US$401m (A$442m) from US$560m.

Fourth-quarter Fiery revenues fell 24% from US$70.2m in 2008 to US$53.1m in 2009. Full-year Fiery revenues fell 33% from US$278.74 to US$184.4.

Inkjet, meanwhile, experienced only a 2% decline from $US47.8m to $US46.8m in 2008.

It was a marked improvement for inkjet in the fourth-quarter compared with its full-year revenues, which fell 27% year on year to US$160m

The company’s overall net losses improved considerably from US$104.5m in 2008 to US$3.4m (A$3.7m) in 2009, partially aided by the sale of part of its Foster City, California site, which offered a net gain of US$80m.

Although specific figures for Australia and New Zealand weren’t available, the ‘Other international locations’ market bucked the revenue decline trend, posting Q4 revenues of US$4.5m (A$5m), up from US$2.4m in 2008.

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