Gestetner To Enhance Stake In Arm To 51%
The UK-based Gestetner Holdings Plc will increase its stake in Gestetner (India) Ltd from 49.5 to 51 per cent through a preferential rights offer. Ricoh Company Ltd of Japan acquired full ownership and control of parent Gestetner Holdings Plc, UK, in 1995. Nearly 70 per cent of Gestetner Holding Plc's turnover comes from sales and distribution of Ricoh products.
"We will rev up our corporate image in India by increasing our financial status and stake and introduce the latest hi-tech products," said
Naoto Shibata, chairman and chief executive officer of Gestetner Holdings Plc, UK. Shibata launched three new products in Calcutta yesterday - Gestetner 5329, 5329L and 5340 -- digital copy printers suitable for high volumes of copies and prints. India is one of the first countries in the world in which the group has launched its 5329 Gold Series products.
"The parent company's increased stake will benefit Gestetner India as it will have access to the latest products of Ricoh which spends nearly eight per cent of its sterling 6 billion turnover in research and development annually," said Jahar Sengupta, chairman.
Paul Wilkinson, chief executive, Gestetner (India) Ltd, told Business Standard that some new products like electronic duplicators and a computer printer for cutting stencils will be marketed in India from April. The company, which posted a Rs 4.41 crore profit before tax in 1996, hopes to make a profit of Rs 6 crore in 1997. Gestetner (India) had incurred a loss of Rs 42 lakh in 1994.
Shibata said the company's current production capacity at the Salt Lake facility is not adequate to serve as a sourcing point but in future it may work out strategies and consider upgrading the facilities.
He also launched Gestetner India's "Oyakudachi" training programme -- a client-focussed philosophy aimed at customer satisfaction. He said manufacturing facilities in India can be used in future to export office automation products to neighbouring countries.
Ricoh also has a 28 per cent stake with RPG enterprises in India to market its products. Shibata said Ricoh will continue to operate in India through the two companies and that it has similar operations in the US and Europe where Ricoh and Gestetner are competing in the market. He, however, did not rule out the possibility of merging business interests in future.
Gestetner, which has 29 service centres-cum-sales outlets in the country, plans to open 10 more sales outlets by the end of 1997, especially in Bihar, Orissa, Assam and the northeast.