Kyocera insists acquisition of Annodata will not mean it gets preferential treatment

Key points

• Japanese parent firm snaps up UK reseller
• Kyocera insists Annodata will not get special treatment
• “If any of the other [Kyocera] dealers feel it will disadvantage them, in price, or whatever, they may stop selling it," claims partner

Vendor snaps up its resellers in a move it claims doubles its UK presence

Kyocera has snapped up Annodata, but has insisted its reseller will not get preferential treatment over others.

Kyocera's Japanese parent company has acquired the £70m reseller, which is based in Kings Langley and has offices around the country. The print specialist is partnered with a number of vendors including HP, Canon and Ricoh.

Nigel Allen, UK marketing director for Kyocera, insisted that Annodata will remain independent and will be free to work with other manufacturers. He said it will not receive special treatment, and will get "nothing over and above what they get currently".

Allen said that although he and his team were worried about how its partners would react, the ones he has spoken to have welcomed the deal.

"We spoke to all our partners yesterday and their feedback has been very good," he said. "We were naturally worried there would be some bad reaction. It's doubled our business overnight as a UK revenue and they see it as reinforcing Kyocera's commitment to the market. Over the last few years we've seen Sharp and Samsung, Dell and Lexmark get acquired by people or pull out of the market. This is Kyocera reaffirming its commitment to the market."

James Kight, managing director of Kyocera partner Printerland, said he has some concerns about the move.

"I think it's surprising from the point of view that it is very difficult to be impartial when you own a dealership," he said. "Is it the start of their going direct? I am concerned by it. Anything like this is a concern. It's quite unusual for a vendor to buy a dealership and at the moment I don't understand the reasoning."

Alex Tatham, UK managing director at distributor Westcoast, said he thought the acquisition would work out for Kyocera "as long as they don't kill it and make it a Kyocera concessionaire".

"Annodata will definitely benefit from the financial oomph this gives them," Tatham said.

"We are pretty close to Kyocera as a business as we are their key fulfilment partner for toner, for all the copier dealers. Clearly they've got to keep Annodata at arm's length.

"If any of the other [Kyocera] dealers feel it will disadvantage them, in price, or whatever, they may stop selling it. One of the key things that managed print dealers get really upset about is where their MIF - machines in field - are, so therefore it's very important for Kyocera to have very strict rules of engagement, and I'm sure they'll do that."

Although Kyocera's move to buy a partner has been branded "unusual", it's not unheard of - for example, Xerox bought its partner Concept Group in 2011.

Kyocera's Allen explained the rationale of buying one of its partners.

"It happens more and more and that's why we took this strong move to secure the market," he said. "Feedback from our partners so far is very positive. We were more worried than they were. What's coming through is that over the last few years we have reaffirmed our mission statement of being partner of choice. They trust our integrity. One of the things we pride ourselves on is being transparent, and our integrity. We all need to grow our business and the channel is our largest part. We're doing this partly to enhance the offering to them."