中文Agfa’s digital printing business is doing what the rest of the group is not: growing. The inkjet printing solutions developer reported a 10.8% increase in its Digital Printing division in the second quarter of its financial year, lifting revenue to EUR 51m, with ink sales up 10%. Against a group that slipped 2.1% to EUR 275m, the division stood out as the clear performer.
The numbers tell a familiar modern story in print equipment: the analogue core is under pressure while the digital wing compounds. Agfa said it saw a step up in both revenue and profitability in Digital Printing, following a trend that began toward the end of 2025 as the sign and display market continued to stabilise. Its order book for these solutions is building, and particularly the larger machines showed good traction, a sign that print service providers are again willing to commit capital to higher-throughput inkjet.
Ink is the quiet hero of the result. Recurring consumable sales rose 10%, which matters more than a one-off press shipment because consumables track installed base and usage. A growing ink line tied to a building order book suggests Agfa is not just placing boxes but putting metres through them, the dynamic that sustains equipment vendors through the cycle.
Agfa is also pressing into packaging, an area every print Equipment maker now cites as the growth frontier. It has teamed up with Hybrid Software to bring full variable-data capability to its Speedset Orca 1060 inkjet press, a move that positions the machine for the versioned, data-driven carton work that brands are starting to demand. Packaging is where digital print’s economics improve fastest, because short runs and many SKUs punish conventional tooling and reward a press that changes jobs without stopping.
There is a people thread too. Australians will note that former Agfa ANZ managing director Frederick Dehing has rejoined the company as vice president of strategy and commercial at Agfa Digital Printing Solutions. Dehing led Agfa in Australia from 2007 to 2010, and his return signals continuity of relationships in a region where the sign and display recovery is most visible. Experienced commercial leadership matters in a division trying to convert stabilisation into sustained growth.
For the broader equipment sector, Agfa’s split result is a useful proxy. The groups that entered the digital transition early and built consumable and software依附 around their presses are weathering the analogue decline better than those still leaning on commodity boxes. Agfa’s digital wing is now the engine, and the group’s narrative follows it.
The caution is that a single quarter does not make a trend, and the group’s 2.1% slip is a reminder that the legacy business still weighs on the whole. But the directional read is clear: stabilising sign and display, building orders for larger inkjet, rising ink sales and a packaging push anchored by variable data all point to a digital printing division that is earning its place as the group’s growth centre.
If the Speedset Orca packaging play lands and the larger inkjet presses keep traction, Agfa’s next few quarters could see the digital wing pull the group rather than merely outpace it. For printers, the practical takeaway is that a vendor with a strengthening digital core and a deepening consumable base is a safer long-term partner than one betting everything on a single product line.
Source: Print21 (https://print21.com.au/sales-rise-at-agfa-digital-printing/).
The split result is a useful proxy for the whole equipment sector. The groups that entered the digital transition early and built consumable and software revenue around their presses are weathering the analogue decline far better than those still leaning on commodity boxes. Agfa’s digital wing is now the engine, and the group’s narrative follows it. A rising ink line tied to a building order book is the healthiest sign in print equipment, because consumables track installed base and usage rather than one-off shipments.
The packaging push anchored by variable data on the Speedset Orca 1060 is where the longer story sits. Digital print’s economics improve fastest in packaging, where short runs and many SKUs punish conventional tooling and reward a press that changes jobs without stopping. Pairing that with Hybrid Software’s variable-data capability positions Agfa for the versioned, data-driven carton work brands are starting to demand, and it turns the press from a printer into a production system that talks to the brand’s data.
The return of Frederick Dehing as vice president of strategy and commercial in the digital printing division is worth noting in a region where the sign and display recovery is most visible. Experienced commercial leadership matters in a division trying to convert stabilisation into sustained growth, and relationships in the Australia and New Zealand market run deep. For printers, the practical read is that a vendor with a strengthening digital core and a deepening consumable base is a safer long-term partner than one betting everything on a single product line, and Agfa’s quarter suggests the core is now doing the heavy lifting.
