Overall, the Netherlands-headquartered company posted a third-quarter pre-tax loss of €11.2m (AU$19.8m) – down from a profit of €21.2m (AU$37.4m) the previous year – attributed largely to restructuring expenses incurred after the disposal of the coating activities of US subsidiary Arkwright.

Océ chairman Rokus van Iperen said the company was meeting the challenging economy through added value products and “aggressive” cost-cutting, which will take €80m (AU$141.3m) out of the company’s budget in 2008, and a further €50m (AU$88.3m) in 2009.

He added: “The financial services and construction markets are experiencing well-publicised challenges. These developments are significantly impacting revenues from our continuous feed printers and technical document systems – the main cause of our decline in profitability.”

However, the company is making progress in sales into the colour printing market, selling “several” Océ Jetstreams and “many other colour systems”.

In an unusual move for a public company, van Iperen declined to provide an outlook for the company’s full-year income, save that he expected a “positive free cash flow for the full year”.

Read the original article at www.printweek.com.

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