| FujiPhoto focuses on digital future; snaps up ink-dye maker Avecia |
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Tokyo-based FujiPhoto has tackled the growing concerns over declining film sales in one stroke. The company has bought Avecia Inkjet, the British supplier of ink-dyes for printers that are fast replacing the need to send film rolls to labs.
The Japanese camera maker bought Avecia in a deal worth £150m which now makes Fuji Photo the leader among manufacturers of printer ink dyes. Its copier and printer businesses are certain to make healthy gains from the deal.
Avecia operates from Manchester and the US and has a staff of 140 people. In recent years, business had been on a downturn for the ink-dye supplier. Likewise, falling sales of camera film had been worrying the Japanese camera giant. The traditional way of shooting with film and then sending the exposed roll for professional developing is rapidly reducing as more and more people are printing the results right in their homes. And what’s more important is the print quality is as good as the labs could achieve.
The impressive growth in what is now a niche market has prompted market pundits to forecast explosive growth in the coming years. Digital photography would soon become the global norm phasing out camera-roll printing, they predict.
The optimism is well reflected in the Japanese company’s plans for its new acquisition. The company said it planned to boost sales of ink-dyes from the current Y14billion to Y30billion (£150m) by March 2010.
Avecia was owned by private equity firms Investcorp and Cinven who will now be left with biotechnology as the only sector in their portfolio: AstraZeneca. Avecia was previously the specialist chemicals unit of AstraZeneca.
Posted
on : Tue, 27 Dec 2005 20:10 GMT | Business News
By : Anne Philips
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