NEW ZEALAND : RICOH IN CALM WATER AS FUJI-XEROX SINKS

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http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/ricoh-calm-waters-fuji-xerox-sinks-red-109866
NEW ZEALAND : RICOH IN CALM WATER AS FUJI-XEROX SINKS
Ricoh in calm waters as Fuji Xerox sinks into the red
A
focus on reducing costs for Kiwi businesses helped printing company
Ricoh produce a pre-tax profit of $3.8 million for the year ending
March, but a dive in the New Zealand dollar against the yen pushed Fuji
Xerox to a $15 million loss.The New Zealand-owned Ricoh revealed its
sales rose $3.9 million to $84.2 million for the year ending March
2009, which produced a pre-tax profit of $3.8 million, according to
recently filed company records.

In contrast, the New Zealand
operations of international company Fuji Xerox reported an annual loss
of $15 million after being more exposed to worldwide market
crashes.Fuji Xerox sales declined for the year ending March 2009 to
$174 million on $180 million for the previous financial year.The Fuji
Xerox Finance business also landed in the red, despite increasing its
revenue by $3.5 million to around $66 million.Fuji Xerox NZ managing
director Neil Whittaker told NBR that with almost all of its materials
imported from Asia, it was hit hard by the New Zealand dollar’s
fluctuations during the 2008 financial year.“At the start of that year,
the dollar was at 81c against the yen, but fell down to around 50c, so
the price of importing all of our spare parts and consumables rose by a
third and we couldn’t pass that on to our customers. They were already
hurting and we just would have ended up with more bad debts.”Fuji
Xerox’s levels of bad debt for the 2008 year had already almost doubled
to $3.5 million, compared to the usual level of between $1.5 million
and $2 million.

Despite the tough year, Mr Whittaker told NBR
that months since the March end of year had seen a turnaround in
business and it was now on track for one of its strongest results
ever.“Interest rates are going the other way and the New Zealand dollar
is getting back up there, while customers are looking a lot more
confident. There isn’t much we can do about that exchange rate, but
we’ve seen this happen before in our 40-year New Zealand history and
we’re still here.”The exchange rate rollercoaster also hit Ricoh hard,
but managing director Mike Pollock said the key to the company’s
success lay in its initiative solutions and energy-efficient
products.Mr Pollock said: “We have seen a lot of our customers make a
significant investment in IT to drive cost savings, which has been
reflected in our increase in revenue.Mr Pollock also said Ricoh’s
sustainable practices and green corporate structure was attractive to
customers.

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September 9, 2009 at 10:52 AM