Inkjet Wholesale News aims to provide updates on the latest significant occurrences in the field of printing. Whether it’s the launch of a new technology or volatility of market prices, we’ll be here to give you the lowdown on what happened, when it happened, and what it means!
Smithers Pira Report Projects Digital Textile Print Market to Double In Next 5 Years
Subjectively, the future of the digital textile print market has been praised and celebrated by different quarters in the print industry. In fact, most comments about this market have been incredibly positive and forward looking. These proponents of the future of the digital textile print market will be glad to know that there are now projection numbers that they can quote every time they’re trying to explain to someone the growth potential of this market.
The projection numbers in question have been released by the print market research expert, Smithers Pira, within their report titled, ‘The Future of Digital Textile Printing to 2021’. The primary findings of the report point to a very rosy future for the digital textile print market. The report expects the digital textile print market to grow by an average of 12.3 percent every year for the next five years. This would mean that the digital textile print market, value at approximately $1.27 billion currently, will double to an amazing $2.54 billion by 2021!
Smithers Pira didn’t only focus on the monetary value of the digital textile print market in its report. It also took into account the volume of fabric printed and found massive growth in that metric as well. For instance, the report states that currently about 870 million square meters of fabric is printed every year and found that market growth will result in about 1.95 billion square meters of fabric being printed by 2021.
The reasons why such growth will take place in the digital textile print market were also provided along with the report. The avenue of these results was comments from the commissioning editor of the report, John Nelson. According to Nelson, the reasons contributing to the digital textile print market growth are the same as the reasons that contributed to the growth of the inkjet market.
Nelson specified three seasons of which he found the “ability to produce small, customised runs” the most critical. The other two reasons cited were faster order response and reduced setup times.
Customised runs are important, as per Nelson, because of the on-going trends in the industry. The fashion and signage industries are moving towards a time when multiple mini seasons will become relevant within the traditional season. This is naturally resulting in shorter runs comprising unique, customised, and even personalised designs.
Nelson also pinpointed the recent trend of inkjet companies entering the digital textile industry through acquisitions and mergers. Mimaki, Epson, and EFI are all examples of this move by inkjet players.
Furthermore, the report has studied four sub-industries of the digital textile print market, which are signage, technical, household, and clothing. Signage happens to be the largest segment of the aforementioned four. With such positive projections for the entire digital textile print market, it isn’t surprising to find that Nelson suggested double-digit growth for each smaller market segment.
HP Inc. Announces 14% Drop in FY2016 Printing Revenues And 8% Drop In Q4 Printing Revenues
HP Inc. has just released its results for the FY2016 which means that fourth quarter’s financial information has also been made available. The most notable aspect of these results is that the printing division of the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) has shown a significant decline in revenue.
As per the results, HP’s printing division saw a revenue drop of about 8 percent since it only managed approximately $4.56 billion in the fourth quarter of FY2016. Operating profits of the division showed a considerable drop of about $200 million on a year-on-year basis as well. The operating profits added up to about 14 percent of the printing division’s net revenue which was a drop of about 2.9 points when compared to figures from the fourth quarter of the last fiscal.
The quarterly performance of the OEM’s printing division contributed to its yearly results too. For instance, the printing division’s revenue in the entire FY2016 showed a fall of 14 percent, with the final numbers adding up to about $18.26 billion. Operating profits amounted to approximately 17.1 percent of the revenue in FY2016 which symbolised a drop of 0.6 points.
With respect to HP’s performance on an overall basis i.e. all its division, the quarterly results showed a move in the positive direction. The company’s revenues went up by 2 percent in the fourth quarter of FY2016, with the total amounting to around $12.51 billion. Even the operating profits saw a marginal increase of about 0.4 points. Operating profits of HP in Q4 FY2016 were 7 percent of the total revenue.
The good performance in Q4, FY2016 couldn’t cover for the company’s revenue performance in the entire year. In FY2016, HP garnered total values worth approximately $48.24 billion, which is about six percent lesser than what it achieved last year. Even so, HP’s operating profits did see improvement. The OEM’s operating profits amounted to 7.9 percent of their overall revenue which was an improvement of 0.5 points.
HP Inc., post-split and under Dion Weisler’s leadership, has been following a clear and daring strategy to tap into new market segments by innovation and acquisition. One of the market segments that HP is looking to disrupt is 3D printing and the OEM has already taken steps towards that vision with the launch of their 3D printer. HP’s 3D printer, incidentally, happened to be the fastest in the industry.
HP has also been looking to tap into emerging markets with its printing division. The prime example of this strategy in practice is the fact that the OEM recently launched no less than 33 new printer models in India. The third pillar of HP’s long term strategy is the multifunction or copier industry, something that it has begun work on by acquiring the Samsung printer business.
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