Online cartridge and office supply company 123inkt is up for sale, and could raise at least €500m, the Financieele Dagblad said on Thursday, quoting anonymous sources.

The sources suggest the company’s gross profit is currently in the region of €50 million to €60 million and that a buyer would have to pay some 10 times that.

123inkt’s last published figures date from 2019, when net profit was €28.5 million, but that was before the coronavirus pandemic which led to a surge in online shopping. The company now claims four million clients, compared with 2.5 million before the coronavirus crisis started.

The company was set up in 2000 by Gerben Kreuning who started out selling computer parts on trade fairs and at the bazar in Beverwijk. In 2003 the company moved into Belgium and in later years expanded to cover other websites, such as 123schoon for cleaning products.

123inkt has been embroiled in a long running legal dispute with printer maker Hewlett Packard over reusing old HP cartridges.