Fujitsu drops ICL in rebranding plan

Hardware Vendor's return to profit paves the way to flotation.

Fujitsu ICL, the European PC and server arm of Fujitsu, will axe ICL from its title as it seeks stronger brand image and differentiation from the UK services subsidiary.

The name change was announced at the Cebit trade show on 20 March. The company will be called Fujitsu Computers across all of Europe from this point on.

Winfried Hoffmann, joint COO of Fujitsu, said: 'This is a continuation of our programme establishing a European PC operation for Fujitsu that will enable us to grow and leverage Fujitsu wherever we operate.'

Parent company Fujitsu is desperate to promote a global brand, particularly in the US and Europe where it has limited recognition.

ICL chief executive Keith Todd said he was happy with the move and that it would help him push the ICL brand as a services company.

The name drop comes at the same time that ICL has clawed its way into profit in 1997, something which the company claimed meant it was on track for flotation in 2000. Fujitsu's UK subsidiary posted a pre-tax profit of #30 million for 1997, up from a #2.5 million loss the year before.

Revenue fell by about 15 per cent on 1996 to #2.47 billion, which the company said was the result of the decline in older businesses, such as contract manufacturing and PCs.

Todd said: 'After a difficult period of restructuring, we are now channelling our energies into looking outward.' This process involved the sell-off of some units, including contract manufacturing arm D2D, and the refocusing on services units, including Sorbus maintenance and CFM outsourcing.

He added that the 25 per cent growth of ICL's managed services business had helped raise profit margins and believed the company could hit his target of six per cent margins by 2000.

ICL recently won a #160 million outsourcing contract for BG Transco's national telecommunications network, and an #80 million deal for in-store systems at Marks & Spencer, which it pushed as examples of recent success stories.