Brother Gulf achieves 19 per cent regional growth in first half of 2007

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Brother Gulf, a global leader in the development and manufacturing of printing, communication and digital imaging products for homes, SOHOs and enterprises, has announced that it has achieved a 19 per cent increase in its revenues - the highest growth rate in the regional printer, copier and multifunction products (MFP) market in the first half of 2007.

Findings compiled and published by IDC indicate that Brother’s share in the EMEA printer, copier and MFP market has increased significantly, which the company attributes to the growing importance of MFP’s and its move towards achieving a long term goal of 100 per cent growth in 3 years. The manufacturer has also announced that it aims to leverage the rapid growth of the global printer and copier market, which is expected to generate revenue of USD 62.6 billion (AED 230 billion) by 2010.

A recent study by IDC reveals that MFP’s are dominating the regional market by slowly easing out single function printers and copiers, which has led to sales of more than 23 million MFP units in the first two quarters of 2007. Data and research house Gartner Dataquest has also reported that the MFP trend has rapidly gained momentum since the second half of 2006, with sales in this segment driven by the serial inkjet MFP, which accounts for 41 per cent of the total printer market. Brother has achieved the highest comparative growth rate in the printer and copier market through its wide range of Color Inkjet, Color Laser or Mono Laser products, that are competitively-priced at the mid and high end, and which feature higher print speeds, superior performance, a 3 year warranty on Color and Mono Laser devices at no additional cost, and separate ink cartridges for each color.

“Our emphasis on technological innovation and ability to identify emerging markets whilst providing ideal solutions across different segments has translated into strong revenue growth and sustained market share. We are extremely pleased that our strategy to focus on corporate and retail sales, product groups and aggressive pricing has generated impressive results for us, which we hope will continue towards the rest of the year and ultimately, in the realisation of our long term objective. Our customers can expect more cutting-edge products and further improvements to the functional and sophisticated features of our MFCs, which has proven to be determining factor in our strong market performance,” said Shinji Tada, Managing Director, Brother Gulf.

Brother had recently launched its latest colour laser devices, which use the new ‘Horizontal 4-colour Single Pass Tandem Engine’. The new technology, which was fully developed by Brother Japan, addresses the concerns of the booming SMB sector, as it primarily focuses on higher print speeds for full colour prints, data security as well as lower purchase and operating costs. In its efforts to supply the growing demand for quality printing equipment, Brother has undertaken intensive research to produce a range of colour laser devices to address the specific needs of the SMB sector in terms of function, security usage control, performance and economy.

“Colour laser is expected to replace monochrome printing among SMB end-users with an increasing demand for professional quality colour laser printing in many business applications. Brother was one among the first to recognise this need, and we are definitely engaged in providing our customers with printers, which will serve them with the most benefits. As we foresee more successes within our reach in the coming years, our main focus remains on sustaining our increased market share and emerge as the top provider of printing, communication and digital imaging products in the region,” concluded Tada.

Delivering top-of-the-line solutions, Brother Gulf has continually increased its market share since it began its operations in the Middle East in 1991. Its core products are laser printers, facsimile machines and Multi-Function Centres (MFC’s). The company’s regional hub in Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai supplies spare parts and products as well as provides sales and technical support to its extensive network of distribution partners across the Middle East and African markets. Brother also recently joined other IT companies in forming the Imaging Consumables Coalition of Europe (ICCE), an anti-counterfeit organization, which aims to combat counterfeit imaging supplies flooding the GCC market.