Xerox drops ACS brand, lowers 2012 guidance

Shares in copier technology and IT/BP services giant Xerox slid over 10% as it revised down profit and growth targets for FY12, after seeing demand for its technology ‘significantly impacted by economic weakness in Europe’. FY12 growth is now expected to be 2% vs. previous guidance of 4-6%. The other big news is Xerox’s decision to drop the ACS brand in Q4. This was clearly a rush decision since only in September there were no plans to do so. We had pointed to the lack of integration between Xerox and ACS as a significant weakness in our recent Analyst Views note Xerox: challenges and opportunities post ACS. From now on, ACS will now be known as Xerox Services. We will have a full analysis of the results and the implications in UKHotViewsExtra later, for our Foundation Service customers.