The titanic battle for control of Xerox has overshadowed the Q1 results from the digital giant, which show the company’s performance improving, albeit gradually and with revenues dipping.

Total revenue at US$2.4bn is down 4.6 per cent in constant currency terms, with equipment sales of $499m down 6.4 per cent by the same measure, while post sale revenue (service, consumables) fell by 4.1 per cent.

In the equipment sales, the 6 per cent increase in production equipment installed was helped by growing demand for Versant printers, which are based on Fuji Xerox technology, while demand for the iGen flagship machines, which are 100 per cent Xerox built, was lower than in the previous year.

Plenty of industry analysts hold the view that one of the reasons Xerox is better off with Fujifilm is to access its enormous R+D. However as of yesterday after a roller coaster ride in the courtrooms of the US that $6.1bn deal now seems dead in the water.

Revenues from continuous feed presses also fell, in part due to timing issues says the company. Demand for mono machines continues to fall.

However by keeping tight control over the expenses, reducing R&D spend and general expenses, Xerox turned a gross profit of $970m ($975m last time out) in the quarter to a pretax profit of $134m, compared with the $16m loss for the same period last year.

Xerox had to pay $28m for its share of the accounting scandal in Fuji Xerox ANZ as it is a 25 per cent stakeholder in Fuji Xerox.

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