PrintWeek understands the group is in negotiations with the landlord at its Sheffield gravure site about adding an extension to that facility. The extension would be large enough to contain four web presses. Polestar is set to install its two Goss International 96pp Sunday 5000 presses first, followed by a 64pp short-grain Sunday web, which also uses the 5000 platform. It also has spare space available within the existing gravure facility. As part of the reinvention of its web offset platform kit from Polestar Colchester is also set to be relocated within the group, including the site’s M4000 and possibly a Ferag binding line. According to a report in local Colchester newspaper the Gazette, the firm’s M4000 is to be relocated to Bicester. However, sources told PrintWeek that the press was more likely to be moved to Chantry in Wakefield. The original plans involved having the two 96pp presses up and running in the first half of 2014, but PrintWeek understands this is now more likely to be during the latter half of next year. Polestar chief executive Barry Hibbert declined to comment on the details at this time. He said: “We are still in discussions with all parties, we expect to have things concluded by the end of October.” The £50m order with Goss is for six presses in total: two 96pp Sunday 5000 presses, two short-grain 64pp presses and two 16pp M600 cover presses. Polestar has secured a slew of contract renewals this year, including work for Titan, Immediate Media, the BMJ and Private Eye....

PrintWeek understands the group is in negotiations with the landlord at its Sheffield gravure site about adding an extension to that facility. The extension would be large enough to contain four web presses. Polestar is set to install its two Goss International 96pp Sunday 5000 presses first, followed by a 64pp short-grain Sunday web, which also uses the 5000 platform. It also has spare space available within the existing gravure facility. As part of the reinvention of its web offset platform kit from Polestar Colchester is also set to be relocated within the group, including the site’s M4000 and possibly a Ferag binding line. According to a report in local Colchester newspaper the Gazette, the firm’s M4000 is to be relocated to Bicester. However, sources told PrintWeek that the press was more likely to be moved to Chantry in Wakefield. The original plans involved having the two 96pp presses up and running in the first half of 2014, but PrintWeek understands this is now more likely to be during the latter half of next year. Polestar chief executive Barry Hibbert declined to comment on the details at this time. He said: “We are still in discussions with all parties, we expect to have things concluded by the end of October.” The £50m order with Goss is for six presses in total: two 96pp Sunday 5000 presses, two short-grain 64pp presses and two 16pp M600 cover presses. Polestar has secured a slew of contract renewals this year, including work for Titan, Immediate Media, the BMJ and Private Eye....

The Shop was soft launched last month with a newly recruited team of 14 staff, headed by SP Group’s former business development director Neil Jenkinson. “The marketplace is tougher predominantly because, not only are we up against other printers, but also print management businesses, and now media agencies that are diversifying and offering end-to-end solutions,” said Jenkinson. He added: “It was becoming harder for SP, as a print specialist, to compete credibly and talk to specialist brands about shopper behavior and how best to respond to those needs, not just through paper and print but through other display opportunities. “To be taken seriously we needed to create a specialist division offering expert help.” The Shop has been set up to offer clients a more integrated service earlier in the planning process, so rather than simply creating POS displays the service offers shopper marketing strategies as well as retail design and permanent display options. Part of the new service includes the supply of components, such as electronics or metal fixings, needed to complete permanent displays. The new business operates as a standalone division based at SP Group’s Redditch print facility, but with an increasing presence in London as new business in the capital gains momentum, according to Jenkinson. The Shop is already working with existing SP Group clients including Holland & Barrett, M&S and Britvic and Jenkison said the new creative offering would run seamlessly alongside SP’s print and production services. “The acid test of our success will be our ability to bring on new clients that SP could never have done on their own. I’m hoping to build this into a £5m business within one year and I’m confident we can deliver that,” said Jenkinson....

Texas-headquartered Cape employs around 15 members of staff, with four based in the UK, and offers a range of packaging design and pallet optimisation software. The US developer’s Cape Pack toolkit already uses data from Esko’s ArtiosCAD structural design software, for calculation and simulation, while the software’s reports can be managed with Esko’s WebCenter online packaging management platform. Esko’s corporate marketing director Jef Stofels said: “There is a direct link with our software where it can take the data of whatever packaging it is producing and send it directly to the Cape system to estimate how it will fit on the pallet and how strong the boxes need to be. So it can be directly integrated. “The software will remain on the market under the Cape name; we don’t want to dilute that. We also share a lot of common customers and suppliers so as far as the client is concerned, it is business as usual,” he added. Esko president and chief executive Carsten Knudsen said: “Cape has already made inroads in the brand owner and retailer packaging space. Adding their palletisation tools to our portfolio supports our strategic goals. “We’re determined to leverage the synergies this brings to our existing products and services, especially the sustainability benefits that integrating Cape’s technology into Esko solutions should provide our customers.” All staff and products will be integrated into the Belgian software developer’s business model by the end of September. The value of the acquisition was not disclosed....

The Shop was soft launched last month with a newly recruited team of 14 staff, headed by SP Group’s former business development director Neil Jenkinson. “The marketplace is tougher predominantly because, not only are we up against other printers, but also print management businesses, and now media agencies that are diversifying and offering end-to-end solutions,” said Jenkinson. He added: “It was becoming harder for SP, as a print specialist, to compete credibly and talk to specialist brands about shopper behavior and how best to respond to those needs, not just through paper and print but through other display opportunities. “To be taken seriously we needed to create a specialist division offering expert help.” The Shop has been set up to offer clients a more integrated service earlier in the planning process, so rather than simply creating POS displays the service offers shopper marketing strategies as well as retail design and permanent display options. Part of the new service includes the supply of components, such as electronics or metal fixings, needed to complete permanent displays. The new business operates as a standalone division based at SP Group’s Redditch print facility, but with an increasing presence in London as new business in the capital gains momentum, according to Jenkinson. The Shop is already working with existing SP Group clients including Holland & Barrett, M&S and Britvic and Jenkison said the new creative offering would run seamlessly alongside SP’s print and production services. “The acid test of our success will be our ability to bring on new clients that SP could never have done on their own. I’m hoping to build this into a £5m business within one year and I’m confident we can deliver that,” said Jenkinson....