Xerox CEO: We’re In ‘Continued Communications With Fuji’

In his first public comments on Fujifilm’s victory in appellate court last week, Xerox CEO John Visentin told investors the company is in regular communications with Fujifilm and he does not think the company’s win “means very much for Xerox.”

“We’ve had continued communications with Fuji. ... We have regular Fuji board meetings [at] which we have representation,” Visentin told investsors on the company’s earnings call Tuesday.

During the earnings call, Visentin told investors that third-quarter revenue was down 5.8 percent versus the same period last year on sales of $2.35 billion for the period ended Sept. 30. Xerox reported earnings per share of 34 cents on net income of $89 million.

[Related: Fuji Seeks $1 Billion In Damages From Xerox]

“We were disappointed in the revenue in Q3,” he said. “We have an action plan to improve revenues that includes, among other things, simplifying the organizational structure, improving alignment of compensation and evaluating contracts that are not profitable.”

Xerox shares late Monday afternoon were up 57 cents, or 2.16 percent, to $26.97.

Last week an appellate court struck down an injunction that had blocked a sale of Xerox to Fujifilm. Following that victory, Fujifilm said it was interested in resuming talks. However, as late as yesterday Xerox had no comment on the matter. A lawyer for Fujifilm told CRN the company believes its deal to buy Xerox is the best path forward for both companies.

Visentin has been at the helm of Xerox since May.

Xerox said sales of its A3 and A4 devices were up 1.7 percent up last quarter, excluding OEM sales. However, the OEM numbers pushed device sales overall down 2.7 percent. The company also saw weaker supply sales and a downturn in managed print services.

“Post-sale revenue comprised 78 percent of total revenue and declined 5.2 percent at constant currency,” said Xerox CFO William Osbourn. “As discussed earlier, we have not seen the contracted post-sale revenue trend improve, which is dependent on growing our machines in field and page volumes.”

Just as he did during the previous earnings call, Visentin said R&D and innovation will be a priority for Norwalk, Conn.-based Xerox, and mentioned 3-D printing as one area the company wished to grow.

“We are developing a road map to participate in 3-D printing,” he said. “We currently manufacture 3-D printouts that we OEM where we have differentiated capabilities around print technologies, materials, toner and software that will enable 3-D printing to move to the next level of adoption for the production of end-use industrial products.”

Xerox rival HP Inc. is well out of the road map stage, having recently debuted a 3-D printer that generates stainless steel components for use in parts manufacturing.

Visentin said streamlining the company, and making the organization more efficient is another one of his priorities, as well as building the company through acquisitions.

“We began to work to rebuild our M&A pipeline and to begin to frame out the investments that we’ll be making in the future to drive improved profitable revenue growth,” he said. “We own our destiny. We have everything we need today to improve our performance. Our leadership is engaged and working with speed to transform our business. We have a lot more work to do, but I am pleased with the early progress we are making.”