Approval for the acquisition has been granted by the European Union leaving clearance by the competition authorities in the United States and South Africa as the only remaining hurdles. But the firm is confident that the deal will be finalised this summer.

Creo made a loss in the second quarter. Although revenues rose 3.8% to 86m ($164m) the company made a loss of 2.2m compared to net earnings of 1.1m in the second quarter last year.

It attributed the loss to the impact of lower equipment margins, unfavourable currency exchange rates, restructuring charges and intangible asset amortisation.

The consumables business was a bright spot with sales up 53% to 14.1m ($26.8m), which more than offset a 4% fall in product sales to 48m.

Gross margin fell from 42% to 37.8%, which the firm attributed to the increased share of revenues coming from plates and the falling margins on equipment. The increase in the plate business also led to the firm investing in increased plate inventory.

Due to the firm's impending acquisition by Kodak it didn't issue any guidance for its third-quarter figures.

Story by Barney Cox