MESA, the international offshoot of Masterplan, the world’s largest third party imaging servicing and refurbishment company, has hit Europe and has signed a five year deal with Euromedic, the second largest private imaging group in Europe.

MESA chief executive Rob Piconi doesn’t pull his punches. He claims that Berkshire-backed MESA can reduce the overall cost of imaging equipment by 15-30% by offering lower priced, third party maintenance, refurbished parts at half OEM list prices and plenty of advice on what kit to buy. MESA also sells a lot of refurbished equipment and Piconi says that the refurb market, which is at least 20% of the US market, is probably just 5-10% of the UK market. He reckons that European prices are generally 8-12% higher than US prices.

Euromedic has signed a five year deal with MESA, which will see MESA take over all service and parts contracts.

Piconi says that imaging in the USA remains absolutely pivotal to the big private hospital groups: “Imaging accounts for maybe 10-12% of their sales, but well over 30% of their profits. Radiology, particularly on the more advanced machines, makes a lot of money.”

In Europe, MESA is building an engineering plant in Poland and has warehouses across the continent. Piconi expects to sign other large private operators, but is also keen to start talking to the public sector.

He indicates that sales in the year to June 2010 are likely to hit €10m but adds that MESA sales are doubling or tripling quarter on quarter in Europe. Worldwide Masterplan has 430 field engineers. Piconi says that today in Europe there are no Pan-European third party service providers.