Videojet sale takes Marconi's disposals to £820m

The telecoms equipment maker Marconi unveiled plans to sell its ink jet printing business for $400m (£277m) yesterday, boosting the amount of cash the company has raised from disposals to about £820m.

The move makes it a foregone conclusion that Marconi will announce it has hit its debt target well ahead of time in its trading statement on Tuesday.

Shares in the company closed up 0.25p at 4.5p after it said it had agreed to sell a second business, its Data Systems unit formerly known as Videojet, to Danaher of the US. Last month Marconi reached an agreement to sell Marconi Commerce Systems, its petrol pumps business, to Danaher for $325m in cash.

The Illinois-based Data Systems unit supplies ink jet printers, spare parts and accessories. In the six months to 30 September, it made a pre-tax profit of £11m on sales of £103m.

Mike Parton, chief executive, said: "This transaction represents a significant further step towards Marconi's stated objective of maximising cash proceeds from non-core asset disposals." The deal, which is still subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to be signed off before the end of Marconi's financial year on 31 March.

Of the £820m cash raised from selling assets so far, £502m has come from the disposals to Danaher and a further £121m came from the sale of Marconi's 50 per cent share of General Domestic Appliances, owner of the Hotpoint and Creda brands, to Merloni Elettrodomestici of Italy. The company has also raised about £43.2m by selling shares in Lagardère; £45m by disposing of stock in both Lottomatica and Siemens Telecommunications, known as Sietel; £76.8m by selling certain properties and £30m from "other" deals.

As part of its rescue strategy, Marconi had said it wanted to raise more than £500m and cut its borrowing to between £2.7bn and £3.2bn by the end of March. Its level of debt will be revealed next week but analysts reckon it should now be comfortably less than£3bn .

The company, which is trying to refinance its loan facilities, could still sell off other assets including its electronics business Marconi Applied Technologies. Its 50 per cent share in Confirmant, a joint venture with Oxford GlycoSciences, and its share of the Ultramast venture with Railtrackcould also be sold as could its 72 per cent stake in Easynet.