Agfa acquires Inca Digital

The Agfa-Gevaert Group has signed an agreement with Screen Graphic Solutions to acquire its Inca Digital Printers subsidiary, which is based in Cambridge, UK, in what is likely to be a significant boost for both Agfa and Inca and a major realignment in the wide format and packaging printer markets.

Pascal Juery, CEO of the Agfa-Gevaert group.

Pascal Juéry, president and CEO of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, commented: “The Inca acquisition is a major step in Agfa’s transformation. Digital printing is a profitable growth engine for the Group with a tremendous potential that will be further accelerated by the addition of Inca.”

Inca Digital is best known for developing a range of high end flatbed printers – indeed it was one of the early pioneers in UV flatbeds, with its Eagle printer being one of the very first UV flatbeds at a time when the industry was still dominated by roll-fed solvent printers. The company was set up in May 2000 as a spin-off from Cambridge Consultants. Screen bought Inca Digital in 2005 and has since used Inca Digital’s expertise to help develop a number of inkjet-related projects.

Inca’s initial strategy was to partner with an ink vendor for its printers, leading to a successful joint venture with Sericol. This left Inca free to develop its printers while Sericol supplied the ink and took responsible for selling those printers. This continued when Fujifilm bought Sericol, with Fujifilm still selling Inca’s Onset series of very large, very fast wide format printers. 

However, Inca was less successful in finding partnerships with other ink manufacturers and the acquisition by Screen led to some awkwardness with Fujifilm. As a result of this, Fujifilm opted not to sell all the printers that Inca developed, choosing the Canon Arizona 6100 (which it sold as the Acuity F) instead of Inca’s W3200 UV. This in turn forced Screen and Inca to set up their own distribution channels to sell those models that Fujifilm didn’t want. The arrangement with Fujifilm is now coming to an end though Fujifilm does still have some orders for Onset machines, which Agfa will complete and deliver over the next couple of months. My understanding is that Agfa wants to continue to sell the Onset product lines and  the acquisition does include all the IP and trademarks related to the Onset printers. This should see Agfa taking a far larger slice of the wide format market in the future.

Stephen Tunnicliffe-Wilson, CEO/CTO of Inca Digital Printers, explained: “The acquisition by Agfa allows us to combine our technological knowhow and will enable us to become a leading digital packaging press manufacturer worldwide. Our new parent has shown long term commitment to the digital printing market and we are extremely proud and look forward to becoming part of the Agfa family.”

Inca has mostly favoured Fujifilm Dimatix printheads and this is likely to continue in the future. However, Tunnicliffe-Wilson says that it’s unlikely that Agfa will develop any new products for Fujifilm as it has its own sales channel.

Inca is also in the process of developing a single pass B1 corrugated printer, the SpeedSet 1060, which I’ve covered previously here. So this acquisition also gives Agfa an immediate entry back into the packaging printer market. Tunnicliffe-Wilson adds: “The SpeedSet 1060 and future developments of the SpeedSet platform will be Agfa products. Agfa’s strategy is to be a ‘full solution provider’ so Onset and SpeedSet will be sold with our inks and the Agfa DFE.”

This Inca Digital Speedset is a high speed single pass inkjet printer targeted at the packaging market.

As well as Inca Digital itself, the deal also includes Screen GP IJC Ltd, which is a joint project between Screen GA, Inca Digital and BHS (which makes corrugator machinery) to develop an inkjet unit that could be integrated with the BHS corrugator machines. This has led to the 2.8m wide RSR printer (Roll to printed Sheet in Real time), which uses Dimatix Samba printheads and can run at 300mpm. 

In my opinion, this acquisition brings together two leading players in their field, which is bound to lead to some interesting developments. Inca is a world leader in developing inkjet printing solutions and Screen has benefited from its expertise in building its own range of inkjet printers, which Agfa will now be able to take advantage of. Equally Agfa has developed a useful portfolio of inks for different applications and has a large market presence that should help expand Inca’s market share. 

Vincent Wille, President of Agfa’s Digital Print & Chemicals division, explained:  “The combination of Inca Digital’s manufacturing knowhow and Agfa’s technical expertise, worldwide presence and excellent service networks will allow us to bring unparalleled printing solutions to our customers and to adapt seamlessly to their needs in this rapidly evolving space. This investment leverages and strengthens our position in the high-end and high speed wide format market as a whole and specifically in the promising packaging segment.”

For its part, Screen has never really had much interest in the wide format flatbed printing market, concentrating instead on its roll-fed commercial and label printers. Screen issued a strange press release, describing the sale of its subsidiary as a transfer of assets, which is technically accurate but a long way short of what we might have expected and in no way explains why Screen opted to sell Inca or what it intends to do with the money from the sale. 

There’s no mention of what Screen gained from its ownership of Inca. Instead Screen’s statement concluded: “Going forward, Screen GA will continue to enhance its corporate value by accelerating growth in the digital printing fields of transaction / direct mail, publishing printing, commercial printing, flexible packaging as well as labels, and exerting synergistic effects with the recurring business.”

The deal also includes Inca’s related services business in the US. Neither Screen nor Agfa has disclosed the price, which in itself is unusual since Agfa is a publicly listed company and will have to release its financial results. Those results are likely to include some indication of how much Agfa has paid for Inca, and what contribution Inca makes to Agfa’s figures. The Agfa-Gevaert Group is split into four divisions – Radiology Solutions, HealthCare IT, Digital Print & Chemicals and Offset Solutions – and had a turnover in 2021 of €1,760 million.

The deal is still subject to regulatory approvals though Screen has said that it expects the deal to be completed by the end of May 2022. You can find further details from incadigital.com and agfa.com, and on the RSR corrugator from bhs-world.com.


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