Xaar Share Discussion Threads

[rivaldo] 18/3/2016 12:28

Good to see a non-exec director making a maiden buy at 440p, and a decent amount too at £25,000.

[bottomfisher] 17/3/2016 15:42

I agree with Apad re warning bells. Would love to know whether the new CEO, from a big company background, was poached or happened to be available because he had been reorganised out of a job at Kodak. Just how big a catch is he? His statement about creating a market and customer focussed culture and the need for cultural and communication changes at Xaar makes me nervous. As for Robin Williams, the new chairman, there is nothing in his CV to suggest that he is a high tech entrepreneur. Feel much more confident that the management of RWS, particularly the chairman, knows what he is talking about.

[apad] 17/3/2016 15:38

.....but it's hard to see what is complementary.

We'll see.

apad

[rivaldo] 17/3/2016 15:09

Fair enough. But there's no point in just building up a bigger and bigger cash pile which acts as a drag on the Balance Sheet and on the share price.

With £70m cash XAR can afford to make a meaty say £25m-£40m complementary acquisition which would likely heavily enhance earnings, whilst continuing to invest heavily in the future - including its existing 3D printing operations - from existing profits/cash flows.

[apad] 17/3/2016 14:29

Hi Riv,
Ex Kodak CEO in job for just over a year sitting on cash pile looking for acquisitions rings my warning bell.
I would prefer XAR to work like RSW maintaining its technological lead by expenditure on technological development. But, new CEO needs to make a mark.
I'm out of XAR at the moment watching 3D printing.
An acquisition would most likely lead to its removal from my watchlist.
apad

[renew] 16/3/2016 11:10

Some things never change at Xaar and thats the ability of the directors to look after themselves. An extra 800k shares in issue last year and 2,2m options available. While the shareholders get a miserly 2% return.

[source] 16/3/2016 09:30

What an incredibly flowery Profit Warning by Xaar...

The worst kind in my view...These things sucker in too many unnecesarily and management should be more responsible/honest.

Regards,
Source.

[salpara111] 16/3/2016 08:33

Thought results were solid but as mentioned above, the expectation for "broadly similar" revenues in 2016 is probably disappointing the market.

[rivaldo] 16/3/2016 08:20

Bouncing quickly now.

2016's forecasts were already slightly lower than in 2015, so "broadly similar" revenues are likely in line with expectations.

[bookbroker] 16/3/2016 08:16

You have, '2016 revenue to be broadly similar to 2015', that suggests growth in earnings will come from cost cutting!

[stoxx67] 16/3/2016 08:15

happy to hold too...

see what the trading day brings...

[rivaldo] 16/3/2016 08:12

I'm surprised at the market reaction here?

Results were ahead of expectations. 24.5p EPS compares to consensus forecast of 19.64p, and PBT of £20.8m compares to consensus £19.64m.

The outlook is for similar revenues to 2015, which is as expected, with the usual limited visibility.

XAR have £70m net cash - 20% of the m/cap.

And everyone knows about the new products coming on stream and the fantastic IP and investment.

Perhaps I missed something?! Happy to hold anyway.

[rivaldo] 26/1/2016 09:05

Excellent coverage on this 3D printing web site - here's a couple of extracts:



"High Speed Sintering Steps Towards Commercialization with Xaar’s Newest Hire
By Michael Molitch-Hou On Mon, January 25, 2016 ·

Currently packing up his office at Sheffield University, the primary inventor of high speed sintering (HSS) Professor Neil Hopkinson is about to take this cutting edge technology from the lab to the industrial sphere. As the newly appointed Director of 3D Printing with Cambridge-based Xaar plc, Hopkinson will oversee the development of HSS and other 3D printing technologies within the inkjet printhead company for use by their OEM partners.

I was recently introduced to Prof. Hopkinson through IP lawyer and 3D printing expert John Hornick, who described HSS in his new book 3D Printing Will Rock the World. Unlike selective laser sintering (SLS), which fuses material powders with a laser, point by point, HSS uses infrared lamps, making it possible to 3D print large objects, or series of objects, at speeds that rival injection moulding. In other words, HSS has the potential to make 3D printing a truly viable option for the mainstream mass manufacturing of end products.

Hopkinson tells me that he came upon the idea for HSS shortly after completing his doctorate....."

"It’s no wonder, then, that the UK government funded Hopkinson’s research to the tune of £1.5 million (including industry partner contributions) to examine how huge industry partners Unilever, BAE Systems, and Cobham Technical Services could implement the technology for possible end part production. Xaar, who were also involved in the UK-funded FACTUM project, naturally chose to take Prof. Hopkinson on as their Director of 3D Printing, given his technology’s use of their industrial inkjet heads in the HSS process."

"While Neil cannot speak in great detail at this stage about the firm’s planned use of HSS, he was able to say that the company is preparing to assist its OEM partners who had obtained licenses to commercialize the technology. One partner he was able to mention explicitly was 3D printer manufacturer voxeljet. voxeljet has already been able to successfully license binder jetting technology invented by ZCorp for its own large-scale 3D printing systems. The German firm has since reported that it plans to offer its own HSS system by 2017 or 2018. We can’t say for sure what other routes may be found for the technology to make it out of the lab and into the world of mass manufacturing. It’s possible, looking at the industrial members of the FACTUM project, that we could see a company like Unilever use HSS for consumer goods and BAE Systems 3D printing aerospace parts, with a vast range of sectors and applications between these two extremes."

"With the ability to 3D print large objects and batches of objects at a speed of around 10 seconds per layer, HSS has the power to bring the benefits of 3D printing to the world of mainstream manufacturing. You can imagine printing complex geometries and many completely unique orders in a single build at rates that will quickly pay off the purchase of the machine. In other words, the era of mass customization could very well be upon us. And, now that Xaar has taken on one of the pioneers of that technology, we could see HSS move from the lab to the world at large in the very near future."

[rivaldo] 14/1/2016 11:36

Informative article in today's Shares Mag (i.e printed before the trading update):

"Xaar to ride R&D rally

Multiple catalysts for re-rating as investment pays-off in 2016

There are several potential catalysts in 2016 that could reverse the fortunes
of printing technology manufacturer Xaar (XAR), and spark a re-rating of the
shares at 452p. The Cambridge and Huntingdon based company has wisely invested heavily in research and development (R&D) even in the face of ebbing Chinese consumer spending during the past year to 18 months.

Xaar is a world-leading designer and maker of digital inkjet printhead technology used across several industrial applications, including barcodes, in graphic design, on packaging, but most lucratively, on ceramic tiles and laminates. This latter market had boomed, largely thanks to China’s soaring economic growth leading to record-breaking results in 2013, but biting
competition and slowing volumes in China have squeezed growth rates.

Xaar’s response has been to aggressively up the R&D ante still further. In 2013 the company more than doubled R&D spend to £16.4 million, raising the bar again in 2014 to £19.2 million. The £10.2 million invested into new product development in the first half of 2015 point to a further jump again, perhaps as high as £22 million to £23 million for the year to 31 December 2015. This has generated a swathe of new product lines that are helping the company to open up new opportunities to dilute the exposure to Chinese ceramic tile decoration.

‘This year (2016), we expect to see the Xaar 501 gain traction, the first Print Bar Systems shipped, further commercial progress in direct to-shape and the thin film Piezo product launch,’ explains Peel Hunt’s Dominic Convey. The Xaar
501 is the next generation architecture aimed at the graphic design market,

Print Bar Systems are high-precision engineered complete systems which use ultra-violet light technology, while piezoelectric inkjet technologies are used for highly detailed print demands.

Xaar is also accelerating its 3D printing technology developments. A number of
milestones have already been reached in 3D printing in recent months and the unit’s management was strengthened on 6 January with the appointment of Professor Neil Hopkinson to a new role as director of 3D printing.

Hopkinson, who will join in March 2016, is the original inventor of transformational High Speed Sintering (HSS) technology designed to use inkjet
print heads and infra-red heating technology to manufacture products layer by layer from polymer powder materials.

‘This strong pipeline of new applications ought to deliver signifi cant revenue growth in the coming years, and the broader revenue base should reduce earnings volatility,’ claims Peel Hunt’s Convey. There is even the chance that
Xaar could become another UK intellectual property play to fall to an overseas buyer. In June 2015 rival Domino Printing Sciences was acquired in a £1 billion deal by Japan’s Brother Industries (6448:T).

‘The global inkjet market is forecast to grow strongly over the next 10 years and the acquisition of Domino Printing by Brother last year underscored the strategic value of digital print assets,’ concludes the Peel Hunt analyst.

SHARES SAYS: 
We have been long-run supporters of the Xaar story and a cash-adjusted price-to-earnings (PE) multiple of about 18 is attractive for this fine technology company."

[rivaldo] 14/1/2016 08:43

The trading statement was nicely reassuring - especially with £70m of cash (91p per share), and the brokers have increased their forecasts:

"Digital-printing firm Xaar jumped 49p or almost 11pc to 500p after a much better-than-expected year-end update. Profitability was higher than expected because of improved plant efficiency in both Sweden and Huntingdon.

Broker N+1 Singer lifted its 2015 pre-tax profit forecast 10 per cent to £19.1million. Net cash rose to £70million or 91p per share."

[lauders] 13/1/2016 16:07

Great day here. You may be right stoxx67. Don't think the rise will continue this fast though! Lovely to be proved wrong.

[stoxx67] 13/1/2016 13:19

hopefully see £6 in next few months now that is out of the way..

[lancasterbomber] 13/1/2016 09:28

Nice bowl starting to form

[parvez] 07/1/2016 08:03

Despite this being a great business with tons of potential i still think business from China in the short term is going to be challanging. I am therefore holding out to get in at a much lower level however i could be totally wrong if a bidder appeared on the horizon. DYOR,etc,etc

[hastings] 06/1/2016 21:25

hxxp://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Xaar-recruits-expert-head-new-3D-printing-team/story-28476140-detail/story.html

[tongosti] 29/12/2015 20:39

No one knows the answer to that question I would think. So many moving parts when it comes to new technologies. As such, I think one is probably safer to combine the fundamental case (which is strong for XAAR) with price momentum (with the view to avoid all sorts of disappointments ranging from micro to macro). At the moment sitting this one out on the back of poor price action but watching very very closely. GLA

[qvg] 29/12/2015 08:15

thanks Rivaldo,
the Dunedin extract sums up well my own investment thesis. But as your second extract shows, they have missed out a third big opportunity - Advanced / additive manufacturing.

this is Lower volume but higher value added. Applications include solar film, nano imprint and display screen production.

from their 2013 Annual Report - Technical progress is promising, but full commercial implementation is some years into the future. Does anybody have an assessment of how far into the future?

[rivaldo] 15/12/2015 10:45

Dunedin Smaller Companies yesterday stated they are new holders of XAR:



"We introduced four new holdings to the portfolio. Xaar is a leading designer and manufacturer of digital print heads. The business possesses a significant amount of intellectual property and benefits from high barriers to entry. Demand for their products is undergoing structural growth driven by a number of end markets. The timing of the development of these markets is unpredictable leading to lumpiness in profits, but there is a reasonable expectation of growth over the long term. They have two developing technologies both of which could be very significant to the fortunes of the company. Direct to shape printing will allow FMCG brand owners to have much more personalised and rapidly variable packaging. Thin film technology will reduce the costs of digital printing opening a range of new markets to its benefits. The lumpiness of adoption can cause fluctuations in the share price and it was such an event that created the opportunity for us to build an initial position in a company we have followed for some time. "

And XAR describe InPrint 2015 as an "overwhelming success":



Interesting excerpt:

"​Xaar also sponsored ‘Pushing the Boundaries of Inkjet Applications’, a presentation by Professor Neil Hopkinson, Head of Sheffield University’s Centre for Advanced Additive Manufacturing. The presentation aimed to open delegates’ eyes to additive manufacturing’s role in the commercial production of quality engineering components, as well as volume production of high-quality fast-moving consumer goods. Xaar has been working closely with the University of Sheffield's AdAM Centre and partners, including Unilever and BAE Systems to develop HSS (High Speed Sintering) technology, which is a key driver to growth in the 3D printing industry."

[tongosti] 10/12/2015 09:41

Have to say am impressed how the share price has held its ground considering recent vol levels in the wider market