Agfa's 2005 full-year results are a "stark example" of why the manufacturer has increased its prices, said UK managing director Laurence Roberts.

Agfa Graphics' profits have dropped from 6.3% of a 1.15bn (1.67bn) turnover in 2004 (72.2m) to 4.3% of a 1.19bn turnover (51.6m) in 2005.

"We have grown the business and made less money. We all worked jolly hard but we lost money to the raw materials inflation," said Roberts, who estimated the loss at 38m.

"We're all being hit by the cost of aluminium, to a lesser extent silver and rising energy costs. We absorbed 17m, but we can't absorb
it all."