*NEWS*EU :TONER/INK SALES $36BIL BY 2008

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InfoTrends/CAP Ventures Identifies Growth Areas in Western European Printer Consumables Market

June , 2005 The total Western European computer printing supplies market, including marking materials and media, is expected to increase from euro 32.5 billion in 2003 to almost euro 36.2 billion in 2008, according to InfoTrends/CAP Ventures. Consumables growth will come in the home with inkjet technology, in the office with toner-based technology, and in professional print environments with light production monochrome devices and lower-cost colour solutions.

Marking materials will be the key driver for supplies growth, increasing from euro 17.6 billion in 2004 to euro 19.8 billion by 2008. Media will remain relatively flat, growing from euro 14.1 billion in 2004 to euro 14.2 billion in 2008. Highlights from the latest InfoTrends/CAP Ventures forecast include: Inkjet technology will continue to increase its share of total supplies revenue at the expense of impact printing and fax technologies. Uncoated cut-sheet paper will remain the dominant media, while specialty media for colour laser and colour inkjet applications is also expected to show promising growth. Lower-end colour page printing will dominate the supplies opportunity in the office environment in the coming years, but the Universal Copier/Printers are expected to win out in the longer term. “The next few years will likely bring a number of challenges to the supplies markets as vendors face a weakened dollar and increasing pricing pressures,” commented Catherine Cresswell, Associate Director at InfoTrends/CAP Ventures. “The real challenge, however, is to continue to facilitate and encourage the output of paper-based documents by selling the value of shorter runs, personalisation, and colour. Users themselves must be re-trained to see hard copy output as something that adds real value at a personal and commercial level in that they can make businesses more effective.” About the market research report InfoTrends/CAP Ventures’ new forecast entitled Western European Supplies Summary Forecast Market Report: 2003-2008 provides a summary view of its forecasts for media (paper and film), marking materials (toners, inks, and ribbons), as well as the hardware installed base within the computer peripherals markets across Western Europe. This document is designed to create an overall picture of the supplies market in terms of products and technologies. The data provided in the forecast covers 2002 through 2008, with 2002 and 2003 data being actual numbers and 2004 through 2008 being forecasted data.

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June 3, 2005 at 11:07 AM