West Perth-based international computer and office equipment financing company Think Smart Limited has commenced trading in Italy, as part of an expansion strategy adding to its operations in the UK and Spain with DSG International.
The company focuses on the delivery of B2B finance products through the retail environment and currently operates with retailers and financial institutions in Europe and Australia.
The company also hopes to begin trading in France this year.
ThinkSmart shares were unchanged today, closing at $1.38.
The company announcement is pasted below:
ThinkSmart Limited today announced it has commenced trading in Italy.
ThinkSmart has expanded its B2B point-of-sale funding product into the Italian market through an agreement with PC City, the computer retailing arm of electrical retailing giant DSG International. ThinkSmart will roll out to all 16 stores across the country. Customer contracts are funded by the Italian arm of Banco Santander, with whom ThinkSmart also trades in Spain.
Commenting on the expansion, ThinkSmart founder and CEO, Ned Montarello, said:
"Our growth into Italy with DSGi will help meet the demand of small businesses in Europe for B2B technology financing solutions at the point-of-sale.
"By using our existing processing infrastructure base in the UK, our expansion into Italy has mirrored the low-cost entry model we successfully launched in Spain three years ago. We anticipate PC City's Italian store growth will emulate that of Spain. We have also implemented a fully online process for the stores which will yield further operating cost reductions.
"It's the same business model and platform we will use for Stages 1 and 2 of our expansion into North America with Office Depot, the world's second-largest office supplies retailer, commencing in the second quarter."
ThinkSmart trades with DSG International in the UK, Spain and Italy through DSGi's PC City / PC World stores. ThinkSmart also has an established processing infrastructure and funding relationships for France, where it is targeting trading in 2008.
No revenue estimates from Italy are included in ThinkSmart's FY 2008 prospectus forecasts.
