Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
NUR Macroprinters Introduces a New Approach to Wide-Format Inkjet Printing Production Management
Wednesday September 7, 6:32 am ET
Beta Testing Begins for the New NUR PrinTop II Control Software
LOD, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 7, 2005--NUR Macroprinters Ltd. (Pink Sheets:NURM - News), a leading supplier of wide-format inkjet production printing systems for the out-of-home advertising market, announced today that it initiated beta testing for a new and enhanced version of its control software for the NUR Tempo(TM) and NUR Expedio(TM) wide-format inkjet presses.
NUR Macroprinters' new NUR PrinTop(TM) II control software will include a host of new features designed to give NUR Expedio and NUR Tempo users more control over the production workflow, reduce waste and errors, and provide more information about ongoing processes.
A new, friendly and intuitive Graphic User Interface is a key element in the new software to help shorten the learning curve, ensure higher utilization of system tools and reduce errors. The new software also makes a wider range of information about press operation and job status more easily available.
For the benefit of managers and owners of wide-format printing businesses, the new NUR PrinTop II software also includes a report generator module for improved production management and financial decision-making. This module will enable those owners and managers, among other things, to create custom reports to monitor their profit per customer, assess their actual costs per job and determine the efficiency of their production.
NUR expects that as of November 2005, NUR PrinTop II software will be included with all NUR Tempo(TM) and NUR Expedio(TM) printers. Current NUR Tempo and NUR Expedio users can purchase an upgrade to NUR PrinTop II.
ABOUT NUR MACROPRINTERS LTD.
NUR Macroprinters (Pink Sheets:NURM - News) is a leading supplier of wide-format inkjet printing systems used for the production of out-of-home advertising materials. From entry-level photo-realistic printers to high-throughput production presses, NUR's complete line of cost-effective, reliable printing solutions and companion inks are helping customers in over 100 countries worldwide address the full spectrum of wide-format printing requirements. NUR customers, including commercial printing companies, sign printers, screen printers, billboard and media companies, photo labs, and digital printing service providers, count on NUR to help them deliver the high quality and fast turnaround they need to meet their clients' exacting demands and succeed in today's competitive marketplace. More information about NUR Macroprinters is available at www.nur.com.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050907/75479.html?.v=1
Dubi
End of the Israeli digital print era
A decade ago, Scitex - Indigo talks went nowhere but now they've finally merged in HP. Plus, I sell off Mercury Interactive.
Shlomi Cohen 16 Aug 05 15:05
It wasn’t what they were thinking about when they first negotiated a merger between them, but a “merger” between Israeli companies Scitex (Nasdaq: SCIX; TASE: SCIX) and Indigo can finally be celebrated. Their “merger” did not create an Israeli digital printing giant, as their entrepreneurs hoped a decade ago. Both of them have now jointly disappeared - first Indigo, and now Scitex Vision - into the great house of printing and computer giant HP-Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ). Most of what once was Scitex has been taken over by another giant - Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK).
Ten years ago, Indigo founder and former CEO Benzion (Benny) Landa held merger talks with Scitex, the flagship of Israeli high tech at the time. CEO Yoav Chelouche and chairman Dov Tadmor managed Scitex at the time, but the man who made the decisions was the late Rafael Recanati, head of the IDB group at the time, who represented the Scitex controlling shareholders.
The proposed mergers was intended to create a global digital printing giant based in Israel, using prepress technology developed 35 years ago under the leadership of Efi Arazi, an inveterate entrepreneur. This technology, together with the high-speed digital printing technology developed by Landa at Indigo, was a generation ahead of its time. It became the Mercedes-Benz of digital printing.
All of the parties in the unsuccessful merger negotiations moved into other business over the years. The Recanati family sold the IDB group, the controlling shareholders in Scitex, to the Nochi Dankner group. Only one of the people who played a key role in those merger talks is still deeply involved in digital printing Landa.
Landa is a strategic advisor for digital printing to HP president and CEO Mark Hurd. Hurd inherited the job from Cary Fiorina, who acquired Indigo from Landa. As an advisor, Landa took an active part in the acquisition of Scitex Vision. I assume that the negotiations in recent weeks brought back memories from distant past.
”If you don’t want me as a partner, you’ll get me as an advisor to your new owner,” Landa might have told Scitex’s controlling shareholders a decade ago. I assume, however, that even a visionary like Landa, who was able to predict what would happen in printing a generation later, did not anticipate the many ownership changes and upheavals in digital printing that have taken place in recent years.
We’ll never know whether the merger under discussion a decade ago would have created an Israeli Nokia in the printing industry, as was hoped at the time. In 2001, when he had already left Discount Investment Corporation (TASE: DISI), the controlling shareholder in Scitex, I met Tadmor, the man who led the negotiations with Landa. I asked him directly whether negotiations had taken place for a merger with Indigo, and if so, why they didn’t produce a deal.
Tadmor confirmed that merger talks had taken place. His explanation of why no merger resulted put most of the blame on Landa. “George Soros, one of the main investors in Indigo, pushed hard for a deal, but Landa caused us a lot of problems,” Tadmor claimed, without specifying whether those problems involved money or ego. For his part, Landa told me several months later, “Nonsense. They were never serious about a merger.”
In my opinion, the responsibility for the failure to create an Israeli Nokia in the printing industry lies in the fact that the problems afflicting each of the two companies (Indigo and Scitex) made them realize that the printing market was very conservative. They understood that achieving penetration in digital printing was not the same as achieving penetration in wireless telephony, for example; it would take many years. Very deep pockets were therefore required, which only the industry giants had.
Indigo and Scitex both began a mad dash in the direction of the giants, a race which finally ended last Friday, when Eastman Kodak and HP divided up Israeli know-how between them, while managing to leave the third giant, Xerox (NYSE: XRX), high and dry. The era of Israeli-owned digital printing has ended, over 35 years after Arazi put the word “Scitex” on a sign in front of the company plant.
Today after trading, HP will publish its results for the quarter ending in July its first full quarter under Hurd. It will be interesting to see whether the acquisition of Scitex Vision a few days before the results are published hinted at a significant change of direction on Hurd’s part.
Fiorina’s acquisition of computer company Compaq, her first, was an expression of megalomania. Hurd’s first acquisition was a small one in digital printing. Many analysts are gambling that this is only Hurd’s first step in shoring up HP’s printing business. They believe that disposal of the PC division, the acquisition that led to Fiorina’s downfall, is just around the corner.
IBM (NYSE: IBM) had no hesitation about admitting its historic failure by selling its PC division to the Chinese, 30 years after showing the door to a young bespectacled geek named Bill Gates, who wanted to develop his vision of a computer in every home. Analysts assume that Hurd won’t hesitate to use any means to unload most of what Fiorina acquired from Compaq for billions of dollars.
Last Thursday night, when it published its results, even Dell Computer (Nasdaq: DELL), the undisputed leader in the computer field, admitted that its price-cutting strategy was not increasing its sales as expected. Dell was forced to slightly lower its guidance for the next quarter. As we saw two days before that with another gorilla, Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO), investors do not let such events go by unpunished. Dell suffered the same fate as Cisco; its share plunged over 7%.
Five other technology companies, all on the Nasdaq 100 index, are publishing their results this week for the quarter ending in July. Chip manufacturing equipment giant Applied Materials Inc. (Nasdaq: AMAT) is publishing its report today, and tomorrow will come the turns of enterprise software company BEA Systems (Nasdaq: BEAS) and network data storage systems producer Network Appliance (Nasdaq: NTAP), which issued a profit warning a week ago.
Of most interest to me are the companies that will report their results on Thursday after trading, including the largest company producing software for automation of planning, design, and drafting - Autodesk (Nasdaq: ADSK), which is in my portfolio. A chip company with a large presence in Israel, Marvell Technology Group (Nasdaq: MRVL), which I used to keep in my portfolio, will also be reporting its results. I sold my stake in Marvell, and waited for profit taking that never came. The share is now at a five-year peak of $45, $12 higher than when I sold it.
After I saw how excellent technology shares like Cisco and Dell were taking it on the chin because of their managements’ conservatism, I prefer getting out of Autodesk now, and perhaps buying it back next week or later, after the company releases its results. There’s no doubt that Autodesk will exceed the market’s expectations of a profit of $0.24 per share on $356 million in sales for the quarter ending in July.
On the other hand, the relative weakness of the summer quarter, combined with the strengthening of the dollar (compared with the corresponding quarter last year) and general concern on the part of corporate management that high oil prices will nevertheless slow the economy down somewhat, is liable to persuade Autodesk chairman, president and CEO Carol Bartz to provide conservative guidance. This will be a disappointment, and cause a temporary dive in the share. The huge Chinese market with its enormous construction momentum, is the joker in Autodesk’s deck, which could generate a very positive surprise, and push the share up to a new peak of above $40.
All superlatives have already been used to describe Marvell, which will apparently once again not be a disappointment. When you’ve got luck, even your ox has calves. Marvell is on the right track to become a communications powerhouse in the long term of the caliber of Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN), after chasing and finally catching up to its main competitor in recent years, Broadcom (Nasdaq: BRCM).
I’ve already written on other occasions that Marvell is in all the hottest fields in broadband communications and electronic gadgets. Marvell makes storage chips for iPods, very high-speed Ethernet communications chips for laptops and communications equipment, and WLAN chips for mobile games consoles and energy consumption management.
In its conference call on Thursday, Marvell will probably discuss the next consumer market it will enter optical disc drives (ODD), mostly for DVD players, with the highest speeds in the computer market. If Marvell enters the market for DVD players as an independent device, it will confront a half-Israel competitor there Zoran Microelectronics (Nasdaq: ZRAN).
Only ten million DVD recorders were sold in 2004. Sales are expected to rise to 23 million by 2008, with consumers switching from VCRs to DVD recorders. Marvell is mainly interested in repeating in the optical market its huge success in storage chips for hard disk drives (HDD). Marvell’s HDD chips are use in computers with a target market of 308 million devices, while the optical market is estimated at 251 million devices a year. Merrill Lynch estimates the chip market for these devices at $3.8 billion.
In addition to Autodesk, I’m also selling my holdings in Mercury Interactive Corporation (Nasdaq: MERQ), until the situation regarding the company’s own inquiry and the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) unofficial investigation into options previously granted by the company.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on August 16, 2005
The above recommendations were made by a person/s working in the investment industry who may hold positions in securities mentioned in the column. This column should not be taken as advice to buy, sell or continue to hold any securities, and anyone acting on the advice of this column does so at his or her own risk.
Dubi
Xerox (nyse: XRX - news - people ), traditionally synonymous with copy machines, now pins most of its profits on printer technologies and services (see: "Technicolor Dreams"). Zimmerman tells Forbes.com about Xerox's latest financials, plans for the company's future and the truth about color printers.
Xerox puts about 5% of total revenue into R&D. What kind of new products are emerging?
Xerox is the leading provider of digital color printing technology, with the industry's most advanced and broad portfolio of color systems. With the number of color pages in the industry increasing 20% per year, we have grown color revenue at a similar rate.
Despite this strong growth, only 3% of the total pages produced in businesses today are produced on color devices. We expect new color technologies and services to drive that number to 10% of pages by 2008, fueling a $22-billion market opportunity.
Xerox and our partner Fuji Xerox are jointly investing about two-thirds of a combined $1.5 billion annual research and development budget on color. Over the last decade, this investment has resulted in more than 2,700 color-related patents.
http://www.forbes.com/2005/08/12/infoimaging-technology-printers-cx_dl_0812xrx.html?partner=daily_ne...
With SCIX divided by HP and Kodak.... looks like Xerox
was left behind...
Will it pick up on NURM ???
Dubi
As of friday, owner of some NURM.
Logic behind it is the recent purchase
of SCIX-vision by HP,
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=7330563
NURM is in a very crucial point of life-cycle,
with odds of survival extremely bleak, grim
and minimal.
NURM had a glorious past, poor present and a very
dubious future.
I am in, nevetheless.
Dubi
NUR Macroprinters Reports Second Quarter 2005 Results
Thursday August 11, 12:39 pm ET
To Preview a New Roll-Fed Wide-Format UV Inkjet Press
LOD, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 11, 2005--NUR Macroprinters Ltd. (PINK SHEETS:NURM - News), a leading supplier of wide-format inkjet production printing systems for the out-of-home advertising market, today reported its preliminary un-audited financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2005.
Revenues for the second quarter of 2005 were $20.3 million, a 4% increase compared to $19.5 million for the second quarter of 2004, as restated, and a 10% increase compared to $18.4 million reported in the prior quarter. The increase is mostly attributed to increased Ink and Service revenues.
Operating loss in the second quarter of 2005 was $0.69 million and net loss was $1.27 million, or $0.05 per share. Excluding a special charge for restructuring of $0.3 million that resulted from NUR's previously announced plan to lower operating expenses, the operating and net loss on a non-GAAP basis were $0.39 million and $0.97 million, or $0.04 per share. Operating profit and net loss for the second quarter of 2004, as restated, were $0.37 million and $0.61 million, or $0.02 per share, respectively. Operating loss for the first quarter of 2005 was $0.41 million and the net loss was $1.4 million, or $0.05 per basic share. We have provided this non-GAAP measure regarding the second quarter of 2005 in order to enhance the user's overall understanding of our financial performance and to make the period to period comparisons more meaningful. Specifically, we believe this non-GAAP measure of net income (loss) provides useful information to both management and investors by excluding nonrecurring expenses.
Revenues for the six months ended June 30, 2005 were $38.7 million compared with $43.0 million, as restated, for the same period in the prior year. Operating loss for the first six months of 2005 was $1.1 million and net loss was $2.7 million, or $0.11 per share, compared to an operating income of $4.1 million and a net income of $1.8 million, or $0.08 per diluted share for the same period in the prior year.
"We have implemented a previously announced plan to lower our operating costs in order to maintain our on-going operations. Despite the cut in expenses, we were able to increase revenues quarter over quarter and in addition to continue our research and development efforts," commented David Amir, President and CEO. "At a major trade show next month, we plan to preview a new 3.2 meter wide, roll-fed UV inkjet press currently in an advanced stage of development. This will be an excellent opportunity for us to demonstrate to the market our leadership role in UV inkjet technology."
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050811/115560.html?.v=1
Dubi
Hopeful at Nur
10.8.2005 / 10:34
Shlomy Golovinski
By Shlomy Golovinski and Ami Ginsburg
It is no fun to have $43 million in bank debt, and it's even more disconcerting to know that there is little chance you can repay the debt in the foreseeable future. Ergom, it's no fun to run wide-format printer manufacturer Nur Macroprinters (Nasdaq:NURM).
Nur, however, has some luck. The banks are well aware of the company's situation and agree with Nur executives that collapse of the company would benefit no one.
For this reason, Nur CEO David Amir and company CFO David Zeligman feel that, despite Nur's heavy losses in recent years, an equity deficit of $25 million and the humungous debt shared by Bank Hapoalim (55%), Bank Leumi (35%) and Israel Discount Bank (10%), the company has a good chance of pulling through the crisis.
Nur's executives prefer to see the cup as half full. In 2004, sales grew by 11%, to $76 million, and in the past few quarters it has managed to maintain steady sales of $18-20 million per quarter. In the first quarter of 2005, Nur recorded sales of $18.4 million and net losses of $1.4 million.
Following a round of belt-tightening, particularly in marketing expenditures, Amir says that Nur can keep its head above water with $20 million in quarterly sales.
"A company with $80 million in annual sales is no small enterprise," says Amir. "This is not a company that should be liquidated. The banks are dealing with a lot of companies in worse condition."
Amir and Zeligman say that Nur's ability to maintain this level of sales is particularly impressive in light of the company's questionable financial stability. An equity deficit in a publicly traded company is not good for sales promotion when the product carries a price tag of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Should Nur seek court protection from creditors? This is a possibility, but its chances for success are slim. Amir and Zeligman believe that the arrangements made for Clubmarket will not be offered to them. The reason is quite simple: Clubmarket is losing money on a daily basis and requires bank financing for its ongoing activities, whereas Nur does not need this type of credit. The debt Nur is carrying stems from loans taken in 2000 for the unnecessary buyout of competitor Salsa Digital.
Zeligman stresses that Nur pays the quarterly interest - some $400,000 - on these loans punctually, but this is no small burden for a company with Nur's level of sales. Still, Nur has never been late with the an interest payment, and in the past has even managed to pay back some of the principal.
Despite recording net losses, Nur has not taken on any new bank debt in recent years. If Nur could only attract an investor who would inject some cash, the company's chances of repaying most of its debt would be much greater.
One such fantasy investor was almost found. In March, Inspire Investment, which is controlled by Avi Wertheim, signed an agreement to invest $10 million in Nur. The agreement with Inspire was conditional on an agreement between Nur and the three banks for the erasure of some $15 million of Nur's debts in exchange for shares and options. Nothing could have been greater than Nur's surprise when Inspire suddenly announced cancellation of the agreement in June, causing the collapse of the agreement with the banks. The banks could have demanded the immediate repayment of the entire debt.
"If the banks so desire," says Amir, "they can take the company right now. If they know some better management, let them be my guest."
Amir and Zeligman embarked on a marathon round of talks with the banks, and obtained a six-month stay in loan repayments. During this period Amir is supposed to find a new investor and draft a new agreement with the banks. The guiding principle is that everyone prefers to maintain the company as a going concern. The banks will have to forgo some of the money, either by writing it off or by exchanging it for Nur stock and options.
Amir says that he has already been contacted by some potential investors.
"Our industry is growing," says Amir, noting that the company's two competitors, one American (VUTEk, a division of EFI) and the other Israeli (Scitex Vision) are valued at more than $250 million, while Nur is currently trading at a market value of only $6 million.
Amir hopes to conclude negotiations with an investor within two months and be rid of some of the weight of the loans. The moment the debt is shrunk to normal proportions relative to Nur's sales, the company will be able to grow faster, and the chances that Nur would be able to repay the remainder of the load will grow as well.
http://tinyurl.com/agref
Dubi
Followers
|
1
|
Posters
|
|
Posts (Today)
|
0
|
Posts (Total)
|
56
|
Created
|
08/11/05
|
Type
|
Free
|
Moderators |
Volume | |
Day Range: | |
Bid Price | |
Ask Price | |
Last Trade Time: |