After 23 years, Delacamp U.K. Ltd, the subsidiary of Delacamp Aktiengesellschaft, has ceased trading and UK based remanufacturers are being served from their Hamburg base.
Delacamp U.K. Ltd was started in January 1995 and specialises in the distribution of components for laser printer cartridges, compatible and remanufactured cartridges, and components and spare parts for copier machines. In 2016 the company employed 34 people.
Volker Kappius, the COO at Delacamp Germany, told The Recycler, “It is true that we stopped trading at Delacamp U.K. Ltd. after 23 years in business. In these past 23 years Mr. Day and his team had done a great job of growing Delacamp U.K. Ltd. from a small garage-like warehouse with an office in Frome to 30+ employees and a 2.700+ square metre self-owned operation in Shepton Mallet, serving the office printer supplies remanufacturing industry in the UK.
“Unfortunately, the office printing industry has changed dramatically in the last five years. More and more former UK remanufacturers turned away from quality and offering a greener alternative to the single use plastic OEM cartridges only to embark on price competition with newly built cartridges from the far East in pursuit of what they believed is fast and easy money. This development has now reached its sad peak with the many no-stock dealers offering me-too products from a few importers of NBCs in the UK. This development has pretty much dried out the market for Delacamp U.K. Ltd. Even the addition of a small product range of finished products that Delacamp U.K. Ltd was offering to smaller remanufactures and small local dealers in the UK did not make up for the loss of business with components and toner. Plus selling finished products is not what a quality centred distributor of components and toners for the genuine reman industry should be doing and thus we could no longer tolerate this.
“And yes, the extreme uncertainty of Brexit also played a small role in making the final decision to stop trading through Delacamp U.K. Ltd and to support the few remaining quality oriented remanufactures in the UK from our Headquarter in Hamburg.”
The Recycler industry tracker shows the double impact of the number of active remanufacturers declining in the UK, mainly as a result of Cartridge World store closures and most small remanufacturers now also buying new build cartridges. As previously reported, Delacamp Aktiengesellschaft is celebrating 140 years in business this year, but has also been under pressure in recent years, with year-on-year earnings declining from €26.5 million ($30 million) in 2013 to €16.5 million ($18.7 million) in 2016.
Richard Day, Controller and Director at Delacamp U.K. Ltd, has recently launched a new company, DC Supplies Ltd, and according to their website, “DC Supplies are a trade supplier offering great value compatible and remanufactured printer consumables.”
