Fuji Xerox aims to boost China sales sharply
Credit: Reuters
* Aims to double China sales every two years
* Expects $535 million in China sales in 2009/10
* Fujifilm shares down 0.4 pct after interview vs flat market
TOKYO, Nov 11 (Reuters) - The head of copier and printer maker Fuji Xerox Co said he aims to double its China sales every two years, capitalising on recovering office equipment demand there and its direct sales method.
Fuji Xerox, a joint venture between Japan's Fujifilm Holdings (4901.T) and Xerox Corp (XRX.N) of the United States, expects 48 billion yen ($535 million) in sales in China for the year ending in March 2010, up 4 percent from a year earlier.
"We are not at all satisfied with the figure. I feel we need to double it and then double it again," every two years, Fuji Xerox President Tadahito Yamamoto told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.
The 48 billion yen in sales would still be less than 5 percent of Fuji Xerox's total sales forecast for the current financial year of 1 trillion yen, which in turn would account for 43 percent of Fujifilm's projected sales of 2.3 trillion yen.
Fuji Xerox, which competes with Canon Inc (7751.T) and Ricoh Co Ltd (7752.T) in the office equipment business, is owned 75 percent by Fujifilm and the remainder by Xerox.
Fuji Xerox counts on its own sales representatives, rather than depending on outside office machine dealers, and that helps drive sales of its digital commercial printers and high-end copiers, which require advanced knowledge to sell to large corporations and government branches, Yamamoto said.
Digital commercial printers are used to produce documents such as product manuals and direct mail quickly and in large volumes, and are a fast-growing segment of the office equipment market.
Shortly after Yamamoto's comments, shares of Fujifilm closed down 0.4 percent at 2,555 yen, underperforming the benchmark Nikkei average .N225, which was virtually unchanged.
(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka, Reiji Murai and Kei Okamura; Editing by Chris Gallagher)
((kiyoshi.takenaka@thomsonreuters.com; +81 3 6441 1810; Reuters Messaging: kiyoshi.takenaka.reuters.com@reuters.net))
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($1=89.63 Yen) Keywords: FUJI XEROX/
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