Agfa increasing plate prices, mulls offset future

Agfa is increasing its offset plate prices by up to 10 per cent in response to “soaring” input costs, while it is also considering options for its offset business.

Agfa said, “Soaring input costs, particularly relevant to aluminium, energy and packaging materials, in combination with sharply rising freight rates due to global logistic constraints make price increases unavoidable".

As a result, the price of Agfa’s offset plates will increase between five per cent and 10 per cent. However, Agfa said rising aluminium prices would also mean printers could get more back when they sent their used plates for recycling.

It said, “Despite internal cost reductions, the magnitude of rising prices is no longer sustainable. The price increase applied to our customers will be partly offset, as printers will benefit from higher aluminium prices when they recycle their used plates".

Meanwhile, the company has revealed it is mulling over the future of its offset division, as it is faced with a declining market, price pressures, and fierce competition. The company has just restructured offset as a separate legal entity, which will enable a sale if required.

New Agfa CEO, Pascal Juery, said, “It means we are ready to look at potential strategic options."

He said, “I sincerely believe that in a declining market, as we see it today, there is a need for industry recombination of some kind. We believe that we are one of the few players in the market and we are ready to contemplate it. But it is too soon to comment further.”

Offset Solutions the biggest business division at Agfa, with 41 per cent of overall group sales. They fell by 13.5 per cent in 2020, down to €1.7bn, with adjusted EBITDA down by more than a third, 35.7 per cent, to €153m.

Sales at Offset Solutions dropped by 16.5 per cent to €704m, sending it into a €2.6m EBITDA loss, compared with a 2019 profit of €27.9m.

Products in Offset Solutiolns include printing plates, CTP systems, pressroom supplies, film, proofing media and workflow software.

In its Digital Print & Chemicals division, which includes wide-format inkjet printing business, sales for last year were dropped by 18.6 per cent to €289m, with adjusted EBITDA falling by 44.3 per cent to €18.8m.

According to Agfa, its ink products for sign and display markets “continued to perform well”, and it said inks for industrial printing applications “grew sequentially”. The group is also developing new products for growth areas, including packaging.