RICOH TO INVEST $300M. TO BETTER COMPETE WITH XEROX & HP

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Date: Wednesday January 26, 2011 08:25:00 am
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    http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2015235520110120

    RICOH TO INVEST $300M. TO BETTER COMPETE WITH XEROX & HP
    Ricoh banks on services as printer market slows
    * Invests $300 million in managed document services
    * Aims for $3.3 billion in revenue from area by 2013
    NEW
    YORK, Jan 2011 – Ricoh Co  will invest $300 million to bulk up its
    document management business, capitalizing on corporate demand for
    services such as paper scanning and storage while cutting its reliance
    on printer sales.The Japanese company, which will make the investment
    over the next three years, is the latest of a string of rivals including
    Xerox Corp  and Canon Inc  to announce expanded offerings to corporate
    clients.”We have to focus much more on information management with our
    customers as opposed to just the copier and the lease on the copier,”
    Ricoh U.S. Chief Executive Jeffrey Hickling said in an interview.

    As
    demand for new printers wanes, companies are looking to recoup profits
    by becoming one-stop shops for a range of services from managing records
    to serving information technology needs.Ricoh is aiming to generate
    $3.3 billion of its annual revenue from its managed document services
    business by fiscal year 2013, the company said on Thursday.Its other
    target is for its non-hardware revenue, now 50 percent of its total
    revenue, to reach 66 percent, also by 2013. Ricoh’s global sales were
    $21 billion in the year ended March 31, 2010.

    Gartner’s Pete
    Basiliere is one of the analysts who support Ricoh’s efforts to build up
    the services side of its business.”Margins continue to shrink across
    the printer industry, so printer manufacturers need to expand into other
    services,” he said.Ricoh’s Hickling said the company would hire new
    staff globally and retrain current employees as part of the changes. He
    did not say how many new employees would be brought on board.The company
    took its first major step to diversify its printer business date in
    2008 when it acquired Ikon Office Solutions, which sells and leases
    office equipment, for about $1.62 billion in cash.Ricoh has a leg up on
    some competitors because it already has strong relationships with its
    customers, since it sells them printers directly, as opposed to a
    company like Toshiba Corp , which sells its printers through a variety
    of channels, said Cross Research analyst Shannon Cross.But Xerox, which
    acquired Affiliated Computer Services in 2009, is the current leader in
    providing these services and Ricoh might have a hard time catching up,
    she added.”Ricoh’s competitors are pretty far ahead of them,” Cross
    said.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2015235520110120

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