Breaking News: Ricoh and Toshiba to consolidate
May 18, 2023
Ricoh Co. and Toshiba Corp. forge momentous partnership to revolutionise office equipment manufacturing.
In an “I didn’t know this was happening” turn of events, two of Japan’s market platers, Ricoh Co. and Toshiba Corp., are poised to join forces and embark on what could be a game-changing endeavour to consolidate their operations in manufacturing multifunction printers, copy machines, and other office equipment. According to an exclusive report by Jiji Press, this audacious move is set to take place in 2024. An announcement is expected any day.
Last week, Toshiba announced their FY2022 results (up 20% year on year) for the Workplace Solutions Business Group, with net sales were ¥217.7 billion ($1.6 billion/ €1.5 billion).
Also, Ricoh announced its full year 2022 results last week, recording an operating profit increase of 97%. Full year sales were ¥2,134.1 billion ($15.82 billion/ €14.41 billion), a year-on-year increase of 21.4%. Ricoh said that revenues and earnings rose in all quarters.
Ricoh said that product supply and logistics improvements helped trim order backlogs for the office printing segment. Q4 unit sales gains were 43% YoY for MFPs, including 103% and 24% for A4 and A3 models, respectively. Non-hardware sales rose on gradual demand recoveries.
Sales for the office services were ¥1,650.4 billion ($12.24 billion/ €11.15 billion), an increase of 15.6% year-on-year.
While specific details of the consolidation are yet to be revealed, industry observers eagerly await further information on the formation of the new company, including its name and strategic objectives.
Our take on this is that too many brands in a mature market is a given, and collaboration and consolidation are inevitable. This deal looks to be a game changer. Who will be next?
Categories : City News
Tags : Business Consolidation Office equipment Ricoh Toshiba
