EFI has acquired UK MIS provider Shuttleworth Business Systems, fulfilling a long held ambition to gain a foothold in the UK commercial print market.
The company has approached each of the UK’s MIS vendors, including Shuttleworth, on previous occasions. But until now none has wanted to relinquish their independence. Prior to EFI, PrintCafé, the consolidated MIS organisation that EFI eventually bought, had also failed to persuade any UK vendor to sell up.
Last year EFI made a strong offer for Tharstern but was rebuffed when the business was sold to a management team. Now Tharstern is taking its technology to EFI’s US heartland.
EFI is acquiring one of the oldest UK MIS providers, which has developed niches in labels, large format display print and supply chain logistics. It had also established a presence in Asia, principally India. EFI has pledged that the business will remain in Kettering and that support for Shuttleworth’s products and customers will continue. There are around 400 active Shuttleworth users around the world.
The business will be known as EFI Shuttleworth says joint managing director Andy King who is to stay with the business. Fellow managing director Paul Deane will remain with Shuttleworth family businesses that are not part of the deal.
EFI has learned from previous experience says King. “We were not looking to sell when EFI approached us. Now we are looking at a very exciting future,” he says. “It is something that is even more convincing the more I think about it.” Some of Shuttleworth’s software, particularly relating to a project that is underway in Kettering, will become part of EFI’s productivity Suite, while Shuttleworth’s offering will be enhanced by EFI’s expertise particularly in web to print. “There are going to be opportunities within the core MIS,” he says, adding that integration with other EFI products, Storefront and Fiery included, will be a priority. “There are a large number of other products that EFI has that can help customers make their business more effective.”
As well as web to print, King mentions the direct machine interface, scheduling applications, Metrix imposition software, DirectSmile and Fiery for use in digital print and large format printing where Shuttleworth has been making some headway.
Gabriel Matsliach, senior vice president and general manager of EFI Productivity Software, says: “We intend to continue to meet and exceed the needs of Shuttleworth’s existing client base with the same enthusiasm that Shuttleworth has for the many years they’ve been in business, while offering those customers access to the full portfolio of EFI products and enabling them to implement complete, end-to-end, business and production workflows that drive efficiency and profitability.”
King repeats the assurance that support for customers will continue. In response to questions that Shuttleworth might disappear into EFI and that US software will dominate, King replies: “Absolutely not. EFI knows that it has made that mistake with acquisitions in the early 2000s and that some acquisitions were badly managed.
“This is a positive move for this business and all our clients who get access to the entire EFI portfolio,” says King.
EFI has previously acquired web offset MIS provider Technique and Australia’s Prism which had a strong UK subsidiary in QTMS, but neither has the presence in the UK commercial print sector that Shuttleworth provides.
The UK deal follows acquisition of MIS suppliers in Germany, Holland and France. In each, EFI has steered development towards its own suite of MIS products, Monarch for large users and Pace for smaller customers. EFI also owns the Radius MIS for the packaging industry where it overlaps with Shuttleworth’s label modules.
EFI has recently sold a GamSys MIS developed in France to start up company White Star Printing. Shuttleworth’s customer base is spread across the UK’s independent printers including Northland Creative in Sheffield, Simply Cartons in Nottingham, Fine Print in Oxford and Kingfisher Print & Design in Totnes.
Shuttleworth Business Systems becomes EFI Shuttleworth as the UK MIS developer accepts an offer for the business. The sum paid is not disclosed, though will not be material to EFI’s figures. It brings the US giant a first major foothold in the UK as well as a presence in Asia and the Middle East.
