“We’re very pleased that the momentum of Q1 accelerated in our June quarter resulting in a solid 10% top-line growth, a fantastic all-time record quarter for EFI,” said chief executive Guy Gecht in the company’s earnings conference call.
He added that last month’s Fespa was a particular highlight, stating that the company had had its most successful show to date in terms of sales and lead generation.
“Trade shows are a fantastic opportunity for customers to compare our products with the competition’s,” he added.
Breaking the numbers down by regions, the company reported that the Americas were exceptionally strong in Q2, growing 22%, while Asia, excluding Japan, grew 10%.
However, “the tough European market” continued its Q1 decline, although Gecht said it was “less pronounced” at just 3% overall, with inkjet being the only area of real decline and its Fiery and MIS segments actually growing.
The firm reported that the migration of industrial tile printing to Asia was the prime cause of the decline in EMEA, stating that once the numbers for Cretaprint were stripped out, EMEA actually grew 4%.
Gecht singled out 26% growth in UV ink volume as his personal highlight in Q2.
“That’s my favourite number, because it shows that our [Vutek] customers are growing even faster than EFI,” he said.
He cited a lot of the growth in UV ink volumes was down to strong OOH markets and the continued migration of screen to digital printing.
Chief financial officer Vincent Pilette said that across the first half of the year, sales had grown 9% to $351.7m year-on-year and operating profit 21% to $45.8m.
“We’re on track for a record revenue year,” he added.