Tough conditions continue for Domino Printing

Industrial coding, printing and marking technology group Domino Printing reported a decline in annual profit, as it battles against tough market conditions, but remains optimistic about growth in 2013 and beyond.

Pre-tax profit fell to £53.94m for the year ended October 31st 2012 from £57.44m the year before. Revenue for the period slipped to £312.1m from £314.1m previously.

Chairman Peter Byrom commented, "Our businesses in the USA, most of Asia, the Middle East and Africa have all made good progress but in parts of Europe and in China sales were below last year."

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"Market conditions have been more difficult and we continue to see extended sales cycles for equipment. The after market business has continued to perform robustly and while capital spend among customers is reduced compared to last year, consumable sales grew by 6%, in line with our expectations."

Net cash inflow from operating activities before taxation increased to £56.4m from £51.1m. Investment in Research and Development was increased to £16.7m as it launched a string of new printer and fluids products over the year.

Looking ahead Byrom added: "We remain cautious about market conditions and their impact on the investment plans of our customers. Against this backdrop we are optimistic about prospects for the future. We continue to invest in new products which are driving growth, our after market business is robust and we expect our investments in new opportunities to contribute to growth in 2013 and beyond."

The board is recommending a final dividend of 13.39p, which together with the interim dividend of 7.24p makes a total of 20.63p per share for the year as a whole. This represents an increase of 10 per cent.

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