Acquisitions, awards, partnerships, expansion, and investments encompass the highlights.
You might think August would be a slow news month, but looking back over the past month, it was anything but. Admittedly, some of these stories aren’t going to rank in the Top 10 stories of the year, but most are still significant thus their inclusion in our list. While a list that ranks the top stories in numerical order of importance opens things up for debate, we find that healthy so let’s begin the debate.
- HP Acquires Major UK Dealer – HP Inc. has reached an agreement to acquire Apogee Corporation, a U.K. based office equipment dealer (OED) and Europe’s largest independent provider of print, outsourced services, and document and process technology. The transaction values Apogee as of closing at £380M. This acquisition furthers HP’s plan to disrupt the $55 billion A3 copier market and builds on its printing strategy to: enhance its A3 and A4 product portfolio; build differentiated solutions and tools to expand its Managed Print Services (MPS); and invest in its direct and indirect go-to-market (GTM) capabilities. This acquisition is unlikely to be HP’s last as we learned in an analyst briefing with HP executives who told us that the company is looking at other acquisition opportunities in other regions, so it could happen here next.
- LMI Receives Cash Infusion from Turnspire Capital Partners – LMI Solutions, the Managed Print Services Infrastructure provider, announced that the investment firm Turnspire Capital Partners has made a strategic investment in LMI that it says will further position the company for long-term success in the marketplace. Turnspire reportedly has substantial operational competencies and an extensive network of strategic resources. This new partnership will reportedly enable LMI, which has had gone through some challenging times of late, to accelerate its expansion and investments in manufacturing high-quality products for its vast network of dealers in North America. In addition, the partnership, will reportedly further solidify LMI’s position as the leading provider of MPS Infrastructure (tools, resources, software and solutions) to enable dealers to successfully sell and operationalize services-based selling models.
- ACDI and PSIGEN Software, Inc. Announce Distribution Partnership – PSIGEN, a developer of document capture, business process automation and document management solutions, is partnering with Access Control Devices, Inc. (ACDI), a PaperCut Authorized Solution Center in North America. ACDI will serve as the exclusive North and Latin American Distributer of PSIGEN products to the office equipment reseller channel. According to a joint press release, the strategic partnership between the two organizations positions them to strengthen a suite of business-critical data solutions as each company looks to offer best-of-breed software for the entirety of the document lifecycle.
- Visual Edge Technologies Makes Three Acquisitions ““ The acquisitions beat goes on for Visual Edge with the August acquisitions of KenMark Office Systems in New England, Technocom in North Carolina, and Mercury Document Imaging with three locations in Southern California and one in Chicago. KenMark Office Systems will be merged with Visual Edge’s and merge it with its core New England company, Axion Business Technologies. The two companies will serve the Greater Boston, Greater Worcester, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Southern Massachusetts marketplaces, along with Cape Cod and the Islands.
- Oval Partners Acquires RS Business Machines ““ The acquisition of RS Business Machines, a national MPS provider based in Sandusky, OH, continues to expand the Oval Partners/FlexPrint family of companies. According to Frank Gaspari, CEO of FlexPrint, LLC, “This is a perfect partnership for Flex Technology Group, broadening our national network and giving us immediate access to the Great Lakes Region. Our national platform is much stronger, and our capital structure gives us a significant opportunity to further accelerate our growth.”
- Konica Minolta Expands Ramsey, NJ Campus ““ The expansion marks Konica Minolta’s continued growth in the imaging sector to produce high-end technologies that meet customers’ evolving business needs, but also the company’s commitment to the New Jersey economy, in bringing new jobs to the area. The project will encompass new building construction, as well as the conversion and repurposing of existing facilities on the campus. When completed, it is expected that the new jobs created will boost the local economy, from employing area residents to shops and businesses that will benefit from added sources of revenue.
- FlexPrint Ranked #2 on 2018 CRN Fast Growth List ““ CRN, a brand of The Channel Company has ranked FlexPrint #2 on their 2018 Fast Growth 150 list. The is CRN’s annual ranking of North America-based technology integrators, solution providers and IT consultants that have experienced significant economic growth over the past two years. The 2018 list is based on an increase of gross revenue between 2015 and 2017. It’s not a surprise that FlexPrint is on this list as it has been growing at an accelerated pace ever since it partnered with the private equity firm Oval Partners and now has revenues of more than $200 million.
- Xerox Announces Partner of the Year Awards ““ Xerox dealers with outstanding business performance were rewarded with the company’s Document Technology Partners of the Year Awards. The awards recognize impressive growth rates noted in four distinct categories, including Highest Equipment Revenue (Edwards Business Systems, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and Virginia Business Systems, Richmond, Virginia); Highest Equipment Revenue Growth Award (Usherwood Technology, Syracuse, New York); Highest Production Sales Award (Loffler Companies, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota); and Newcomer of the Year Award, recognizing top performance in equipment sales, investment, and operations among dealers who are new to the Xerox line (United Business Technologies, Gaithersburg, Maryland.).
- Des Plaines Office Equipment Named to Inc. 5000 List for 2018 – Inc. magazine published its 37th annual Inc. 5000 and on the list was Des Plaines Office Equipment. The list represents a look at the most successful companies within the American economy’s most dynamic segment””its independent small businesses. Not only have the companies on the 2018 Inc. 5000 been very competitive within their markets, but the list as a whole shows staggering growth compared with prior lists. The 2018 Inc. 5000 achieved an astounding three-year average growth of 538.2 percent, and a median rate of 171.8 percent. The Inc. 5000’s aggregate revenue was $206.1 billion in 2017, accounting for 664,095 jobs over the past three years.
- Virutlytix Recognizes Doing Better Business for MPS Excellence – Virutlytix has recognized Doing Better Business as a leader in managed print services (MPS). Doing Better Business was one of seven independent channel partners that Virtulytix selected to participate in the 2018 Leaders Index for MPS Channel Partners, based on demonstrated leadership in MPS. The Leaders Index for MPS Channel Partners is a collection of hand-selected, independent MPS partners from around the world that are regarded as the gold standard in managed print and document services. Virtulytix classifies this index of elite providers from across North America, Africa, and Europe as a lens to view the current landscape of MPS.
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