As announced at the time of their Q3 results (see – Fujitsu restructure causes deep Q3 losses) Fujitsu UK & Ireland has now received the special payment of £800m from Fujitsu Japan to invest in its UK defined-benefit pension schemes.
Apart from the sheer magnitude of the transfer, the implications for Fujitsu UK are significant. The deficits in the pension schemes had been a major brake on further investment in the UK business (eg M&A) The payment will reduce Fujitsu UK’s annual contributions significantly. This is a huge ‘Vote of Confidence’ in Fujitsu UK and its management under Duncan Tait.
I make no excuses for being an out-and-out supporter of UK Tech. Of course, I’d prefer those companies to be UK-owned (as ICL was before its takeover by Fujitsu in 2002) But I’m a pragmatist too. Ownership is not as important as the ‘good’ that companies can do to the UK economy by creating jobs (particularly entry-level jobs for young people), supporting an SME ecosystem, paying taxes and generally being a ‘Good Citizen’.
On that basis, Fujitsu UK really does score highly. It employs 14,000 in the UK (up 3.6% in 2012 – some 4x the UK national average increase), generates some £1.8b in revenues and last year took on 1,800 people – one third in the all important 16-24 year age range where there are currently c1m unemployed. Fujitsu told us that this was “a level of job creation we intend to maintain”.
We hear much from HMGovt about supporting SMEs. But it is worth pointing out that the large SI’s support huge SME ecosystems. Fujitsu told me that they generate some £215m for SMEs in the UK.
Last year, as part of my role on the Advisory Board of the Prince’s Trust, we decided to recruit (and pay the wages of) some 100+ Job Ambassadors. We wanted to equip them with laptops, or whatever, so they could do their jobs more efficiently in Job Centres etc. Fujitsu immediately responded to my request and supplied over 100 of their latest tablets free if charge. It really made a difference as I found out when I visited the Tottenham Job Centre last week – in the heart of one of the most deprived areas of London.
It really does look as if Fujitsu is one of the UK’s ‘Good Citizens’