Labelling And Data Firm Buys Bard Code Business

Labelling and data capture company, SATO, which has its UK headquarters in Harwich (Essex), is to buy the Bar Code Systems (BCS) business of Checkpoint Systems.

Labelling and data capture company, SATO, which has its UK headquarters in Harwich (Essex), is to buy the Bar Code Systems (BCS) business of Checkpoint Systems.

Under the agreement, SATO will acquire Checkpoint's BCS enterprises in North America, Asia Pacific and Europe, including its hand-held labelling operation in the United States.

The total cost of the deal, which is set to be completed by the end of January, is expected to be in the region of US$ 40 million.

The transaction will allow Checkpoint to focus on its core businesses, whilst enabling SATO to immediately increase its presence and customer base in the international bar code systems market, especially for consumables and services, in line with its overseas business expansion strategy.

George Off, chairman and chief executive officer of Checkpoint Systems, commented: "Checkpoint is pleased to enter in to this agreement with SATO, a company with a solid presence in the bar code systems market.

Our customers will benefit from SATO's commitment to excellence in its products and services and our BCS employees will now have the opportunity to work for a company solely focused on long-term growth in bar code systems.

This transaction gives us the opportunity to now totally focus our resources on our growth businesses and create increased value for our customers and shareholders." SATO president, Masanori Otsuka added: "This is a strategic acquisition that complements our existing businesses and fits with our long-term vision of growth and profitability, especially in the consumables market outside of Japan.

Consumables sales account for a large portion of our local business and will continue to be an important driver for growth.

Investing in businesses with established operational and industry expertise can only accelerate our expansion plans.

The acquisition will not only bring complementary product lines, but also give SATO the opportunity to gain a foothold in new markets.

We are confident it will be a seamless integration and BCS will soon be part of the SATO family." For the nine months ended September 25, 2005, Checkpoint's BCS businesses generated revenue of US$73.0 million.

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