*NEWS*LEXMARK RESELLER SIGNS DEAL W/STATE

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Lexmark reseller signs deal with state
EXCLUSIVE CONTRACT VALUED AT $3 MILLION
Lexmark International announced this week that a reseller of its products has signed an exclusive deal to provide Lexmark printers to Kentucky state government agencies and cabinets.The contract with Pomeroy IT Solutions, also based in Kentucky, is estimated to have an annual value of more than $3 million, Lexmark said.The deal is for one year initially, but may be renewed annually for up to five more, said Jill Midkiff, spokeswoman for the state Finance and Administration Cabinet.Since the contract was signed in November, the state has purchased $274,000 in Lexmark printers, Midkiff said.Local governments, public schools and state colleges and universities also may buy printers under the contract.Previously, state offices could purchase Lexmark and Hewlett-Packard printers from three resellers, including Pomeroy, Lexmark said.

In other Lexmark news
• A major holder of Lexmark stock disclosed this week in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it has divested its holdings.
Franklin Mutual Advisers, a unit of Franklin Resources Inc., held more than 6 million shares of the company’s stock as of Dec. 31, 2005, or about 5.3 percent of Lexmark’s outstanding shares at the time.In the filing this week, the group noted it no longer had any shares. It did not say when the shares were sold. The company declined to explain the sell-off.Lexmark officials also declined to discuss the move.Shares of Lexmark stock closed 2005 at $44.83 a share. They closed 2006 at $73.20, a 63.3 percent increase.The company’s shares have declined during the last two weeks, and the stock closed yesterday at $63.95. Investors presumably were disappointed by muted forecasts for Lexmark’s first quarter and might also have been curious about the effect of a printer alliance between IBM Corp. and Ricoh Co. Lexmark makes printers for IBM.Executives of IBM and Ricoh have since said the companies plan to maintain the existing relationship with Lexmark, and possibly expand it.

• In printer industry news, research and advisory firm Gartner, Inc. issued a report last month that worldwide shipments of printers and inkjet multifunction products increased 2 percent during the third quarter of 2006, compared with the same period a year earlier.The firm said the increase was driven by “strong sales of flatbed inkjet products.” It also noted, though, that the average selling price declined 5 percent year-over-year and end-user spending fell 3 percent.Gartner researchers did not break down the gains by manufacturer, but did offer regional analyses.Although Europe, Latin America and the Middle East and Africa were sources of strong growth, the United States saw a drop in shipments of 7.4 percent from a year earlier.The company attributed the drop to “poor sales of photo printers” because printer vendors began to cease bundling free printers with computers and cameras. In addition, customers began to print more pictures at retailers.Sales in Latin America, which, at 20.2 percent, saw the highest growth, were attributed to, among other things, a “booming PC market with many first-time users.”

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February 12, 2007 at 11:39 AM