Flint and EFI are the early favourites to buy Kodak’s inkjet web division, which was put up for sale by Kodak CEO Jeff Clarke last week.
Both have strong growth ambitions, both access to significant cash, and neither has inkjet webs in their current portfolios.
Until late last year Flint was primarily an ink supplier, however it then bought Xeikon and announced it had serious digital print ambitions. The day after Kodak said it was selling its inkjet business Flint Digital CEO Wim Maes reiterated to the world’s trade press that the company had digital growth ambitions outside of Xeikon, and through its joint shareholders Goldman Sachs and Koch Industries had serious money available for serious investment.
EFI is the print industry’s most cash rich business, and one for whom acquisition is a well-executed continuous growth strategy, it would be a rare year when EFI has not bought someone, and usually it buys more than one.
EFI has no inkjet webs, it does have a label press, various flatbed UV presses, as well as serious front-end and ripping capability through its Fiery. Its CEO Guy Gecht fronted the world’s media two weeks ago, and was more than coy about upcoming developments.
Kodak says it is selling because it does not have the market reach to achieve the necessary critical mass in sales. However it is also believed that Kodak CEO Jeff Clarke and the Board are committed to delivering the biggest returns to shareholders in the shortest amount of time, and its inkjet division does not fit into this timeframe.
[Related: Kodak shocks with inkjet exit plans]
Kodak has been in the vanguard of inkjet web development since drupa 2008, with its Prosper platform launching as commercially viable couple of years later. However this has not translated into sales, most western countries have a handful of Prospers at most, although this is no less than most of its rivals apart from market leaders Oce and Ricoh.
Kodak’s Stream inkjet heads which are bolted onto heatset and coldset offset web presses have been more successful, and the company is about to launch the guts of and inkjet packaging press Ultrastream at drupa. It will still have the Prosper platform on the stand, unless it has been sold by then.
Outside of Flint and EFI other contenders for Kodak’s inkjet division would include Konica Minolta – which already distributes some Kodak product and does not have an inkjet web press – Sun Chemical, and possibly rival inkjet web developers Fujifilm – which has shown but then mothballed an inkjet web, Canon – which owns market leader Oce – and Ricoh, although they all have to be long shots as they don’t need the technology and by Kodak’s own admission there is little to be gained in terms of customer list.
HP is unlikely to be interested, nor would Screen. Neither Heidelberg nor manroland would want to find the money.
For Kodak exiting inkjet leaves it in the plates business – which is not going to grow – an in packaging, which is where it sees its future growth.
It also owns Nexpress which is positioned at the top end of the cutsheet market in a very tough competitive sector with HP Indigo and Fuji Xerox iGen as rivals.
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