upbeat announcements. While it is true that the worst is behind in the sector,
we may not see full recovery of demand to post-crisis levels; It should also
be increasingly led by outsourcing-led services engagements where a corporate
client typically wants to save at least 20-30% of total document output costs.
In other words, small independent vendors like Lexmark could see tougher times
ahead competing against - Xerox/ACS, Ricoh/IKON and of course HP/EDS/Canon.
Many firms looked at Lexmark in the sector; HP was never a candidate due to anti-trust concerns. Xerox was interested before acquiring Tektronix. Some of Japanese vendors did approach too but in every case, Lexmark management was over confident in their ability to fly solo. They mayhave a change of heart considering the massive consolidation that took place in the industry and assessing how realistically sustainable their competitive position will be going forward.
NEW YORK, April 27 (Reuters) - Printer maker Lexmark International Inc (LXK.N)
said first-quarter profit jumped 61 percent, beating estimates, on strong sales of printing services contracts and cost cuts boosted margins.
Lexmark, which competes with Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N),Canon Inc (7751.T) and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS), said net income rose to $95.3 million, or $1.20 a share, compared with $59.2 million, or 75 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter.
Profit excluding items was $1.35, beating analysts' average forecast of 89 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenue rose 10 percent from a year earlier to $1.04 billion, exceeding the average analyst estimate for $961.1 million. The company said sales in its printing solutions and services division grew 20 percent in the quarter.
No comments:
Post a Comment