Annual Report 2002 - Agfa

Key Figures Graphic Systems
(MILLION EUROS)
2002 2001 CHANGE
Sales 1,813 1,890 (4.1)%
Operating result before restructuring* 149.9 79.7 188.1%
Return on sales before restructuring* 8.3% 4.2%
Operating result after restructuring* 126.3 (55.6) 327.2%
Return on sales after restructuring* 7.0% (2.9)%
(*) including non-recurring results
One of the faster growing market segments of the printing industry is the newspaper market. As
newspapers are increasingly adopting full colour printing, which quadruples the volume of
prepress consumables needed (one printing plate for every colour), the demand for graphic film
and printing plates rises. Agfa is well positioned in this market and further enlarged its customer
base thanks to the acquisition at the end of 2001 of Autologic, a Californian manufacturer of
computer-to-plate systems and production software for prepress computerisation in the newspaper
sector. To achieve greater cost efficiency, the production of Autologic was transferred and
integrated in 2002 with the manufacturing facilities in Wilmington (USA).
Going digital
The shift to computer-to-plate, as well as the economic slowdown affected the sales in the analogue
(film based) product families (film, imagesetters and analogue plates). Despite these difficult
market circumstances, Agfa was able to further increase its market share in graphic film.
In the fast growing computer-to-plate market Agfa’s sales increased by more than 30 per cent.
Agfa’s complete portfolio, of both thermal and visible-light digital plate systems, enables it to offer
every customer the solution that is best adapted to his specific needs.
To meet with the strong demand for digital plates, Agfa took several measures to further increase
its production capacity. Among these is the decision to invest in a new production plant for printing
plates in Wuxi (China). It is designed to serve the fast growing Asian market and will be operational
in the second half of 2003.
To achieve greater cost efficiency, Agfa is streamlining its fragmented European plate production
within the framework of the Horizon restructuring plan.
The plant in Wiesbaden (Germany), where approximately half of Agfa’s analogue and digital
printing plates are currently manufactured, is taking over analogue plate production for the
European market from the Agfa site in Leeds (UK), where one production line has already
been closed.
The Leeds facility will, in turn, manufacture all substrate for the fast growing Lithostar digital
plates. The third center of manufacturing excellence in Pont-à-Marcq (France) will specialise in the
coating and finishing of Lithostar printing plates.
Agfa annual report 2002
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