The company outlines that in spite of the sales decline and manufacturing inefficiencies due to lower use of capacity in the first quarters of the year, the Group’s recurring gross profit margin improved from 31.7 per cent in 2008 to 32.2 per cent. This was mainly due to the successful efficiency improvement programmes, lower raw material prices and certain one-off effects.

In its biggest improvement for the year Agfa has reported a 245.5 per cent increase in net operating cash to €266m compared with €77m the year before.

Revenue for Agfa’s graphics division fell 11.9 per cent from €1.52bn in 2008 to €1.34bn in 2009, which the company attributed to the economic slowdown, however Agfa adds that in the last months of 2009 both the prepress and the inkjet market started to recover.

Agfa expects a stronger first quarter performance in 2010 for its graphics division saying the recent acquisition of Gandi Innovations will slowly become apparent in the course of the year. Meanwhile, the effects of the joint venture with the Chinese Shenzhen Brothers company will start to kick-in throughout the course of the second half of the year.

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