Xerox Reports Second-Quarter 2015 Earnings

Second Quarter 2015 Summary:

• GAAP EPS from continuing operations of 9 cents

• Adjusted EPS of 22 cents

• Revenue of $4.6 billion, 56 percent from Services

• Operating margin of 8.2 percent, down 1.6 percentage points year-over-year

• Cash flow from operations of $349 million

• Share repurchase of $395 million

• Increasing full year share repurchase to $1.3 billion

NORWALK, Conn., July 24, 2015 -Xerox (NYSE: XRX) announced today second-quarter 2015 adjusted earnings per share of 22 cents. Adjusted EPS excludes 5 cents related to the amortization of intangibles and 8 cents for the previously announced non-cash software impairment charges, resulting in GAAP EPS from continuing operations of 9 cents.

In the second quarter, total revenue of $4.6 billion was down 7 percent or 3 percent in constant currency. Annuity revenue was 84 percent of total revenue.

Revenue from the company’s Services business, which represented 56 percent of total revenue, was $2.6 billion, down 3 percent or up 1 percent in constant currency. Services margin was 7.5 percent, down 1 percentage point.

Revenue from the company’s Document Technology business was $1.9 billion, down 12 percent or 7 percent in constant currency. Document Technology margin was 12.1 percent, down 2.3 percentage points.

Second-quarter operating margin of 8.2 percent was down 1.6 percentage points from the same quarter a year ago. Gross margin was 31.1 percent, and selling, administrative and general expenses were 19.7 percent of revenue.

Xerox generated $349 million in cash flow from operations during the second quarter, ending the quarter with a cash balance of $1.6 billion. The company repurchased $395 million in stock in the quarter, bringing the total to $611 million in the first-half of 2015.

“We delivered adjusted earnings in line with our guidance, met our Services and Document Technology margin expectations and delivered solid operating cash flow of $349 million in the quarter,” said Ursula Burns, Xerox chairman and chief executive officer. “We are intensely focused on improving our Services margin and are implementing restructuring actions and prioritizing investments to accelerate benefits from our new operating model.”

Xerox expects third-quarter 2015 GAAP earnings of 17 to 19 cents per share. Third-quarter adjusted EPS is expected to be 22 to 24 cents per share.

For full-year 2015, Xerox expects GAAP earnings of 69 to 75 cents per share and adjusted EPS at the lower end of the 95 cents to $1.01 per share range.

Xerox continues to expect full-year 2015 cash flow from operations of $1.7 to $1.9 billion and free cash flow from operations of $1.3 to $1.5 billion. 2

The company is adjusting its 2015 capital allocation plans, increasing share repurchases by $300 million to $1.3 billion and reducing acquisition investments.

Read more here: http://news.xerox.com/news/Xerox-reports-second-quarter-2015-earnings

myGov portal broadens its reach

The push is on to drive interactions between Australians and the Commonwealth Government online, and at the heart of this transformation is the two year old myGov portal managed by the Department of Human Services.

CIO Gary Sterrenberg is overseeing a rapid expansion of the services and functionality offered via MyGov, which now provides access to services such as welfare payments, medical rebates and e-health records, disability support, child support and veterans affairs. The Australian Tax Office also adopted the service, further boosting take-up and extending the range of online options on offer.

As at 31 March 2015, there were 6.5 million active myGov accounts and an average of 15,000 new accounts are created each day. According to the department 30% of the population aged 16 and over have established MyGov accounts. Although it does not anticipate the entire population signing on and expects participation will top out at around 10 million users or less than 50% of the total population. Earlier this year, DHS added optional two-factor authentication to the service, allowing consumers to elect to provide their mobile phone number in order to have an SMS sent to them containing a one-off security code that must be entered into the site before access is granted.

Prior to implementing its digital initiatives, the department offered limited payments and services online with a reliance on traditional methods of claiming and communicating through paper mail and forms. The lack of digital online services forced customers into traditional channels of paper, telephone and face-to-face to conduct their business with the department.

The payoff for MyGov will lie in its reduction of the huge volumes of physical mail and direct interactions with citizens. The scale of the challenge is illustrated by the fact that between July and December 2014 the department distributed over 46 million hard copy mail items. Some 35.4 million letters have now been delivered to the myGov Inbox with an average of 127,000 letters delivered each day.

The Department says the number of letters moving to online channels continues to increase each year and over 50 per cent of Centrelink letters are now sent online. For this Financial Year to date, the number of hard copy letters distributed by the department has dropped by around 15 per cent.

The department’s document lodgement service enables Australians to securely lodge and store and access documents such as forms, medical certificates and payslips, online or through the self-service mobile apps. Since its release onto Centrelink platforms in January 2013 an average of 1800 documents have been lodged per day and more than 1.24 million documents were lodged by 30 November 2014.

The service provides improved information and records management and facilitates the move from traditional document management and storage (photocopying and manual records) to readily accessible, appropriately controlled, secure electronic records. Behind the scenes the department uses several technologies including FileNet and TRIM for different record-keeping purposes. SAP is used as the originating data capture interface to collect these documents.

The department does limited extracts from some of the forms available online using Kofax and Fuji-Xerox technology.

To aid with its migration to digital, the department in 2014 implemented an OpenText solution for Outgoing Correspondence management, OpenText Document Presentment (OpenText DP).

The Department says its part of its strategy to move the large number of PDF forms available at http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/forms/centrelink-forms online, although it has not announced a timetable for this to be completed.

The 2015 Federal Budget allocated $A7.1 million for developing a “whole-of-government digital mailbox solution to enable individuals and businesses to receive and transact with digital messages and documents from government in a seamless, secure environment.”

The newly-established Digital Transformation Office (DTO) plans to expand and improve the myGov digital mail service to provide it as a secure inbox for communications from an increasing number of agencies. Federal communications minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced that myGov will be offered to all other state and local governments at no cost, other than those associated with the initial “onboarding”. The myGov digital mail platform is also set to be expanded to allow use by businesses from next year.

Surat: Blind couple runs Xerox shop, operates touch machine

Blind couple runs Xerox shop

The couple, Anand Kapure and Kiran Kapure, run a Xerox shop outside the Regional Transport Office (RTO) in the city, where thousands of people visit daily to get their driving licenses and car numbers etc done.

They operate the touch screen Xerox machine quite efficiently without anybody’s help.

People visit the ‘Sri Ganesh’ Xerox shop to get their documents photocopied but surprisingly none gets to know that the shopkeepers are blind.

The successful shop is being run by the couple for the last three years.

Watch the Video: https://youtu.be/LKb73abTrME

Fuji Xerox Launches Workbook: Fun to Think, Fun to Write Project to Promote Quality of Life for over 100,000 Underprivileged Children across Asia-Pacific

Fuji Xerox introduces the regional CSR campaign “Workbook: Fun to Think, Fun to Write” to support the production of educational media for over 100,000 underprivileged children across Asia-Pacific. This Project aims to produce over 100,000 books within 2023 to promote education among local communities, improve quality of life for youths and minimize the limitations to accesses of educational media.

Mr. Koji Tezuka, President of Fuji Xerox (Thailand) Co., Ltd. shared “Fuji Xerox is committed to implement our best printing technologies to benefit the development of social quality, especially youths. Therefore, we created the long-term CSR campaign “Workbook: Fun to Think, Fun to Write” to produce “Skill Enhancing Media” for over 100,000 children in Asia-Pacific countries within 2023 such as the Philippines, Thai, Vietnam and Myanmar. We joined force with NGOs, business partners and communities to take part in improvement of quality of life for children in underprivileged communities in Asia-Pacific countries. This Project will encourage the accesses to educational media so they can have a logical foundation to enhance their skills and abilities for creating the better next generations. We hope this project would inhibit the poverty cycle and promote new possibilities for children in the future as stated in our company’s missions.”

Mr. Sommart Bunyasunanond, Vice President of Fuji Xerox (Thailand) Co., Ltd., added “The ‘Workbook: Fun to Think, Fun to Write’ Project in Thailand is a joint effort by Fuji Xerox, The CCF Foundation Under the Royal Patronage of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn (an organization with expertise in children development), Modern Film Printing Co., Ltd. ,Neo Digital Co., Ltd. and Papermate (Thailand) Co., Ltd. to produce 1,000 educational media within this year to give away to students across Thailand.

The Workbook: Fun to Think, Fun to Write Project is a CSR campaign for children across Asia-Pacific. The pioneer project took place in the Philippines in 2014. Thailand is the second country for this year. Fuji Xerox prepared skill enhancing books that are ideal for Thai children. The CCF Foundation under the Royal Patronage of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn developed contents and printing format. The printing processes were sponsored by our partners. All books and equipment will be delivered to underprivileged children and youths from now until the end of Project in 2024. The production volume is expected to reach 100,000 units. The contents vary from country to country as demands for each local community are different. Fuji Xerox works with local NGOs who are well aware of what children need from their lack of opportunities while developing the contents based on age levels.

Mr. Sommart concluded, “Fuji Xerox is committed to run this Project in a long term with measurable results so we team with The CCF Foundation under the Royal Patronage of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn to make sure that the distribution of these educational media would reach target groups thoroughly. We hope that they would benefit all recipients and optimize the education in local communities. The annual progresses will be reported to all communities as well as supporting partners and alliances.”

Dr. Kanchada Piriyarangsan, Director of The CCF Foundation under the Royal Patronage of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn remarked “We are delighted to learn that Fuji Xerox comes up with The ‘Workbook: Fun to Think, Fun to Write’ Project to produce educational media for underprivileged children. With almost 40,000 children under our patronage, we have in-depth experiences with extensive coverages through community voluntary system. We are confident that children and schools that Fuji Xerox will donate these books to would receive utmost benefits and this would promote the skill developments for their future as they would grow up to be the driving forces for Thailand.”

Law Image installs Fuji Xerox D110 to boost profit

Major law firm printer Law Image has installed two Fuji Xerox machines as it pushes to further reduce cost and increase productivity.

With outfits in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Perth, the company produces appeal and court book preparation, confidential copying, printing and scanning, dividers and finishing services, wide format and plans, and media conversion/duplication.

Speaking with Australian Printer, Sudhir Singh, operation manager at Law Image, says that, since its inception in Sydney in 1997, the company has increased its presence across the country and the new printers form part of its natural growth.

Singh says, “We work with government agencies and law firms, which are the main source of our revenue, and purchasing the Xerox’s means we have less waste and more productive days.

“The business is up and down as the trend of jobs coming in has changed. Previously, we would have work come in constantly but now they come in big lots. So it might be quiet for a short period and then we get a big work load.

“While it seems to be quieter as the work doesn’t seem to be as constant as before but when we look at the final numbers we can see that there is no decline in revenue.”

He says the company has obtained most of its equipment from Fuji Xerox including the 4127, 700, 4112, 560, and 900, which it will trade for the D110 copier/printer. The company has also ordered a Color J75 Press

Sudhir says the new printers will further reduce the cost of maintenance and save Law Image on unnecessary extra expenses. He says, “When you get a machine the life time is generally five years and after that you are left with a lot of maintenance work, which can be costly. The new printers will allow us to focus on printing work and other avenues we are seeking to generate more revenue.”

In the last three years the Law Image is also focusing some of its attention to digital technology. Singh says, “We saw the trend of digitalisation and so in the last three years we have implemented new initiatives that allow us to build databases for our clients.

“So we can build databases for any system that our clients use and the databases make for efficient workflow and increased productivity for their business.”

The start of a new era of Land Information Service delivery for South Australia from Fuji Xerox Document Management Solutions

Fuji Xerox Document Management Solutions, Australia’s largest provider of land information services, has completed a project with the South Australian Government to bring forth a modern land and property administration system that is accessible online. Fuji Xerox, worked closely with the State Government to customise and enhance the Integrated Land Information System (ILIS) through extensive analysis and a rigorous testing process. ILIS replaces 28 legacy applications which supported three land and property government agencies for over 30 years and future proofs systems for the SA Government for years to come. The system is fully hosted and managed by Fuji Xerox Document Management Solutions. ILIS will continue to leverage the best of breed technology and processes as the Government’s needs evolve. Fuji Xerox brought in its commercialisation software partner, Relational Data Systems, to configure ILIS for the SA Government. Managed by Fuji Xerox, the project was completed successfully on budget and on time. Relational Data Systems are a key partner in the commercialisation, providing the ongoing development and support role for each of the three ILIS installations to date Fuji Xerox has extensive experience in the management and automation of land information, having worked with the Northern Territory Government and its land information systems since the early 1990s. The Northern Territory Government’s Integrated Land Information System (ILIS) has been deployed in multiple jurisdictions as a contractually guaranteed service. ILIS is deployed each time in different jurisdictions, with varying legislations and requirements: proof of its adaptability scalability and value as an outsourced solution. The recent adoption of ILIS in China is testament to the robust capability and versatility of the system. Fuji Xerox, was selected by the South Australian Government because of its superior reputation in the field of land information services and ILIS as a proven solution. ILIS is the Northern Territory Land Information System and has been customised to meet South Australia’s requirements.

“This new system delivers efficiencies in the processing of land and valuation transactions, while providing improved access to land and property information for industry professionals and members of the public,” Stephen Mullighan, the Infrastructure Minister, said. “The introduction of this modern technology for land administration creates a platform on which South Australia can move forward including with the introduction of electronic conveyancing in 2016.

“This new system gives the legal, finance and conveyancing industries 24/7 access to core business systems and access to government information and products via a single login.”

Implementing SA ILIS involved complying with the stringent South Australian Government Information Security Framework and underwent the highest level of scrutiny from Government auditors.

“Fuji Xerox Document Management Solutions offers a low risk, affordable solution and is diligent in complying with ISO accredited data security and quality management standards,” said Fuji Xerox SME for ILIS, Phill Dance. “Our skills and experience in land information management is unrivalled. We are pleased to provide an exceptional solution to Governments which improves their client engagement and significantly reduces their operating costs long into the future, with innovations such as the new Property Exchange of Australia (PEXA) Electronic Conveyancing solution.

“We are pleased to be working with the South Australian Government on its ILIS rollout and we look forward to helping the Government making land information more accessible to end users.”

From Singapore – New range of Fuji Xerox scanners makes small and medium-sized businesses more productive

While most people are buying multi-function printers these days, there remains a sizeable market for standalone devices. For scanners especially, many businesses continue to buy standalone ones that better suit their needs.

To address that, Fuji Xerox Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. has just launched six document scanners ranging from portable to professional production models. They are: Travel Scanner 150, DocuMate 3220, DocuMate 3125, DocuMate 4440i, DocuMate 4830i, and DocuMate 4799. Some of these models are bundled with document management software that enables users to transform volumes of paper into organized digital files that can be systematically retrieved, shared, and used later.

For example, there’s Visioneer OneTouch that allows users to scan documents to multiple destinations such as email, Microsoft Word files, and printers or file folders; Visioneer Acuity image enhancement that improves image quality at the point of capture; Nuance PDF Converter and Nuance OmniPage that convert scanned documents to editable Microsoft Office formats; Nuance PaperPort that converts scanned documents into searchable PDFs; and Kofax Virtual Re-Scan that instantly detects poor image quality and performs automatic image enhancements.

Here’s a rundown of these 5 models:

DocuMate 3220

The S$739 DocuMate 3220 is a low-cost scanner for small businesses. It has been designed to improve efficiency and productivity for document-centric professionals who need to better organize, manipulate, and distribute paper in their business. One-button scanning delivers documents to any one of nine preset destinations including email, folder, printer, and any other devices. Users can choose from flatbed scanning for fragile, oddly-shaped or thick documents, or use the automatic document feeder for faster scanning of forms, bills, or document stacks.

DocuMate 3125

The S$1,119 DocuMate 3125 has a small footprint for use on crowded desktops, and is fast and simple to set up and use. Ultrasonic double-feed detection alerts users to stapled documents or the rare mis-feed. Users can also scan duplex or utilize the Skip Blank Page function that removes blank pages from the image data.

DocuMate 4440i

The S$1,779 DocuMate 4440i is a departmental scanner with reliable paper handling for high productivity. It scans at up to 40 pages per minute and up to 5,000 pages a day. The scanner includes the Kofax VRS feature mentioned above.

DocuMate 4830i

The S$5,579 DocuMate 4830i allows users to scan A3 documents and long documents nearly three meters using a desktop scanner. Flatbed scanning lets users scan a variety of documents easily, while the ADF accommodates 75 pages for convenient batch jobs. This scanner comes with the Visioneer Acuity image enhancement function.

DocuMate 4799

The S$19,999 DocuMate 4799 is a production-scale scanner with triple ultrasonic DFD, color drop-out, auto binary/color distinction, and other advanced features. It scans at a speed of up to 112 pages per minute. The scanner also incorporates a number of user-friendly features, such as multiple options for the input tray level for maximum convenience, the ability to switch between automatic and manual feeding at the touch of a button, and the option to adjust the rollers depending on the type of paper being used. Automatic color detection determines which documents of a mixed batch should be saved in color, keeping image file sizes smaller. Image enhancements include the ability to fill in hole-punched pages and invert the color. The Kofax VRS technology is also found on this scanner.

These new scanners are now available at authorized resellers. For the Travel Scanner 150 and DocuMate 3220, you can find them at authorized Fuji Xerox Printers resellers at Sim Lim Square, Harvey Norman, Courts, Gain City, Challenger, Newstead, Best Denki, and Popular book stores. The other four corporate models can be found at Albony Integration Services, Apac System, P2 Managed Services, Pearl Blue Tech, RAM I, and Nordic Solutions (Asia).

Xeretec snaps up another Xerox rival

Xeretec has bought rival Xerox (NYSE:XRX) supplier Kent-based First Choice Business Systems for an undisclosed sum.

The deal sees Xeretec assuming control of the managed print and printer supply parts of the business.

The deal further secures Xeretec’s position as Xerox’s largest reseller in Western Europe after its acquisition of Xerox reseller Bytes Document Solutions (BDS) in May 2014.

Xeretec has customers ranging from large corporate offices to commercial printers in the graphic arts sector and SMB customers. It sells products and services relating to intelligent print management, improved document security, regulatory compliance, tighter cost control and enhanced productivity.

Steve Hawkins, managing director of Xeretec, says the acquisition would further increase his firm’s presence as well as its ability to serve even more businesses nationwide.

“The success of our ongoing growth path has already been recognised by The London Stock Exchange and we are thrilled that it recently listed Xeretec in its annual ‘1000 companies to Inspire Britain’ report,” says Hawkins.

“Xeretec also obtained recognition in The Sunday Times’ BDO Profit Track 100 league table. This acquisition helps us continue this journey and we are excited for both our customers and our expanding team.”

Donna Marley, director and general manager of channels group at Xerox UK, says First Choice Business Systems is a “respected reseller” and the acquisition would “serve to further fuel Xeretec’s success and that of its customers and employees.”

Tony Pond, managing director of First Choice hailed the deal as a “landmark development” for the firm.

“The acquisition will ensure that new and existing customers will all benefit from an even greater service as well as a broader range of print and print management solutions to support them, and their business, moving forward. We anticipate many excellent opportunities will arise from this best-of-breed unity and we’re now even better placed to fulfil them, while adding even greater value than before,” he says.

Resellers caught up in EOFY frenzy

Sales “off the hook” due to $20,000 tax break.

As the 2015 financial year drew to an end, disties and resellers reported increased business in the final month, thanking the federal government’s new $20,000 “accelerated depreciation” for the boost.

“I have been through end of financial year when there’s been a big rush – but this is off the hook,” said Ben Corbett, director of Adelaide solutions provider LeetGeek. “The changes in the budget have resulted in an absolute flood of impulsive IT purchasing decisions.”

In May, federal treasurer Joe Hockey announced that small businesses – with annual turnover of less than $2 million – could immediately claim depreciation on assets costing less than $20,000 per item, for an unlimited number of items. The $20,000 limit for “accelerated depreciation” is up from the old $1,000 threshold.

Corbett noted that the demand was high even though his staff don’t proactively push hardware and would never sell something “just because someone asks for it”.

“The biggest fear for us would be to ensure that due diligence is applied,” Corbett told CRN. “Just because someone says they want to spend all their money now, doesn’t mean we won’t still apply due diligence to ensure what we sell is appropriate to them.”

The end of financial year fervour has seen disties stretched to keep up with demand, according to the boss of the Apple specialist.

“Some of these requests are pretty large. When we phone the disties and ask for a quick turnaround, they are saying, ‘You are not only ones’,” said Corbett.

Synnex Australia marketing manager Chi-Wing Chan agreed that the tax depreciation initiative “has had a significant impact”.

“Yes, it’s definitely very busy,” he said, while noting that many SMB customers and resellers would have stocked earlier in June, rather than waiting until the last minute.

Chan told CRN that the enterprise channel was not the big contributor to the EOFY scramble in 2015.

“The sales team has seen the rush from the retail side – more retail orders because of the tax break,” said Chan, adding that a big seller has been imaging and printing – a primarily retail category.

Synnex has launched an e-commerce platform for its channel to complement the high-tech western Sydney warehouse that was opened by federal communications minister Malcolm Turnbull last August.

“A lot of resellers now transact with our e-commerce portal, which is ready 24-7. Ordering is very smooth,” Chan said.

Online technology reseller Mwave.com.au started a marketing campaign in May immediately following the Budget, to encourage customers to take advantage of the depreciation acceleration. The move seems to have paid off.

“June has been very busy – a really good month,” chief executive Victor Lee told CRN. “The $20,000 tax break had definitely [boosted] corporate orders.”

While Lee did not want to speculate on June sales numbers before the month actually ended, he estimated “minimum of 30 percent growth” compared with EOFY period last year.

Next: reseller says it hasn’t benefitted from tax break

Karl Sice, head of technology at Staples ANZ, told CRN that his company conducted a customer survey that showed almost 40 percent of small businesses were intending to take advantage of the $20,000 concession. “And almost three-quarters of those people said they intend to spend the $20k on technology.”

That intent has translated to reality, he said, with Staples Australia seeing “a lot of momentum around the $20k tax break”.

“We’ve been very busy and I’ve had a lot of late nights [in June],” he said. “There’s definitely been year-on-year growth [in sales]… double-digit growth.”

The best sellers for Staples has been cloud software such as Office 365 and Skype for Business. “We’ve sold lots of hardware too, but not so much for traditional PCs and laptops – more the newer form factors.”

Sice expressed concern that the depreciation acceleration scheme is poorly understood by many small business owners. “We get questions like ‘Can I use it for personal stuff?’ and ‘What sort of equipment is covered?’. There has to be some education around that, I think.”

Staples uses Ingram Micro and Dicker Data and has not experienced any distribution delays in the frantic June period. Sice says that at distie, reseller and customer levels, companies are a lot more forward-planning than in eras gone-by: “Everyone’s a lot more professional these days.”

While good news for many resellers, it was a different story for IT suppliers that don’t sell to the kinds of small customers eligible for the tax break.

“For us [business this June] has been about the same, as our client base isn’t in the sub-$2 million category,” said Jason Garland, director of Queensland provider Secure Access. “It hasn’t affected our clients’ buying habits. Maybe there’s been a small benefit, but the [accelerated depreciation] hasn’t a huge impact.”

The accelerated depreciation initiative will run until June 2017

Read more: http://www.crn.com.au/News/405877,it-resellers-caught-up-in-a-eofy-frenzy.aspx#ixzz3eclusyQv