Brother Industries Acquires Domino

Japan-based Brother Industries, will acquire U.K.-based Domino Printing Sciences for $1.55 billion, which is a valuation of the entirety of Domino's shares as a public U.K. company at GBP1.033B. Domino's sales are approximately $528 million, while Brother's are nearly a magnitude greater, at $5.06 billion.

Brother is active in multiple industry segments including various printing solutions and is the second largest piezo printhead developer worldwide, deriving some 70 percent of its revenue from printers and printing products.

According to an analysis and interpretation from industry analyst I.T. Strategies, Domino is the third largest global vendor of coding systems for alphanumeric and symbolic marking of products within the supply chain and in consumer retail. I.T. Strategies says this market is driven by both the consumer economy and the growing need for security systems. The majority of such marking and coding uses monochrome inkjet technology, which drives a continuing consumables ink sales, with consumables being Domino’s largest revenue source. Domino’s revenues grew 11 percent FY 12 through FY 13. Domino has also been making progress in the color graphics market and the printing of prime labels, which many industry watchers view as an entrée to color digital printing in the much larger packaging market.

The report states that as Domino continues to work in the prime label market, Brother will be able to provide a strong financial backing. Furthermore, Brother’s expertise in printhead development, will likely allow for in-house "development and cost leveraging."

I.T. Strategies says the acquisition by Brother indicates that the company is looking toward the future rather than just focusing on the office-product market, which has been declining.