Born in Southampton in 1920, Stephens started work as a research engineer in London and joined Vickers Armstrong in Weybridge after WWII. In 1955 he was appointed to set up a central print department at Vickers to reduce outsourcing and cope with the amount of photographic and printing material required by the aviation industry. Following this Stephens launched his own printing business, Optichrome, in Woking in 1963. Stephens lived in Pirbright, Surrey for 45 years. He bought agricultural land in the 1960s, which he turned into a smallholding to supply a local butcher. Colleague and friend John Heywood, who is managing director of Optichrome, called Stephens an innovator an inspirational character. “He was an engineer with a brillinat mind. He’d fix anything that was broken and even build things from scratch just to keep himself occupied. Nothing was ever too much for him,” said Heywood. Stephens is survived by two daughters, Jenny and Sue, eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Stephens’ funeral will be held on Tuesday 27 August at 12pm at the Church of St Michael and All Angels in Pirbright, Surrey. Family flowers only but donations can be made to Marie Curie via www.justgiving.com/kenstephens...

The owner of the Wyndeham Group and pre-media business Rhapsody Media experienced a 4.9% decline in sales to £56.1m (2012: £59m), in the six months to 30 June, while EBITDA rose marginally by 1.1% to £4.4m (2012: £4.3m). Chairman Mark Scanlon said the sales figures reflected a 5.6% downturn in web offset volumes, which were partially offset by a 1% price increase. Comparative turnover in 2012 had been inflated by Olympic contracts, he said. Scanlon highlighted the falling demand when the group published its 2012 full year results in April, and as such he said the interim figures are as expected. He added: “The deterioration in our web volume is lower than market attrition so we are holding up fairly well and we are really pleased with that performance.” The firm posted profits before tax of £800,000 (2012: £400,000) after exceptional charges of £0.6m and £600,000 of interest charges. Operating profit meanwhile was down slightly year-on-year at £2m (2012: £2.2m). Net debt was reduced from £30.5m at the same point in 2012, to £27.7m after payment in April this year of the final installment of the deferred £5m from its acquisition of St Ives Web, which was completed in April 2011. Walsted paid £15m in cash at the time with £5m deferred for payment over two years. Funding was provided by The Royal Bank of Scotland. Scanlon said that the business was on track to begin paying back the £14.6m owed to Walstead’s founding shareholders, in the second half of the year. “Our profits are greater in the second half of the year so we would expect to see a greater proportion of debt paid off. Everything is on plan in that regard which we are very happy with,” he added. Full year EBITDA and net earnings were anticipated to be in line with 2012 results, he added. Internal direct costs and overheads fell by 7.7% and 9.1% respectively, during H1, while full-time workforce numbers decreased by 8.9% to 1,018. Among capital expenditure in the six months to 30 June the group invested £300,000 in two mailing lines at Wyndeham Heron in a move to bring its mailing in-house. Meanwhile the business renewed and extended a number of major print contracts during the period, including Condé Nast, The Economist, The Spectator and The Financial Times. Scanlon said: “Our contracted customers now represent 73% of net turnover and endow the Group with a stable platform from which we believe we can develop a successful long-term business. “Our clients are endorsing our high quality work and that we are a reputable producer. Because we have four web offset plants we are able to deliver to a wide footprint, so we can...

The owner of the Wyndeham Group and pre-media business Rhapsody Media experienced a 4.9% decline in sales to £56.1m (2012: £59m), in the six months to 30 June, while EBITDA rose marginally by 1.1% to £4.4m (2012: £4.3m). Chairman Mark Scanlon said the sales figures reflected a 5.6% downturn in web offset volumes, which were partially offset by a 1% price increase. Comparative turnover in 2012 had been inflated by Olympic contracts, he said. Scanlon highlighted the falling demand when the group published its 2012 full year results in April, and as such he said the interim figures are as expected. He added: “The deterioration in our web volume is lower than market attrition so we are holding up fairly well and we are really pleased with that performance.” The firm posted profits before tax of £800,000 (2012: £400,000) after exceptional charges of £0.6m and £600,000 of interest charges. Operating profit meanwhile was down slightly year-on-year at £2m (2012: £2.2m). Net debt was reduced from £30.5m at the same point in 2012, to £27.7m after payment in April this year of the final installment of the deferred £5m from its acquisition of St Ives Web, which was completed in April 2011. Walsted paid £15m in cash at the time with £5m deferred for payment over two years. Funding was provided by The Royal Bank of Scotland. Scanlon said that the business was on track to begin paying back the £14.6m owed to Walstead’s founding shareholders, in the second half of the year. “Our profits are greater in the second half of the year so we would expect to see a greater proportion of debt paid off. Everything is on plan in that regard which we are very happy with,” he added. Full year EBITDA and net earnings were anticipated to be in line with 2012 results, he added. Internal direct costs and overheads fell by 7.7% and 9.1% respectively, during H1, while full-time workforce numbers decreased by 8.9% to 1,018. Among capital expenditure in the six months to 30 June the group invested £300,000 in two mailing lines at Wyndeham Heron in a move to bring its mailing in-house. Meanwhile the business renewed and extended a number of major print contracts during the period, including Condé Nast, The Economist, The Spectator and The Financial Times. Scanlon said: “Our contracted customers now represent 73% of net turnover and endow the Group with a stable platform from which we believe we can develop a successful long-term business. “Our clients are endorsing our high quality work and that we are a reputable producer. Because we have four web offset plants we are able to deliver to a wide footprint, so we can...

This year’s list features 26 new entries and, with a printer reclaiming the top spot, a brand new number one. “Putting together the Power 100 is always one of the highlights of the editorial team’s year and compiling the 2013 list was no different,” said PrintWeek editor Darryl Danielli. Thanks to everyone who voted in the Power 100 online poll, which received more than 2,500 nominations, and congratulations to Chris Savage, managing director of Round & About Publications, who won the iPod Nano that was up for grabs. The ranking, which features who’s in, who’s out, who’s up, who’s down, the reasons why and the results of the public vote was published in the 19 August issue of PrintWeek out today. An online version will not be available until later this week. If you’re not a subscriber to PrintWeek magazine, you can sign up here....

This year’s list features 26 new entries and, with a printer reclaiming the top spot, a brand new number one. “Putting together the Power 100 is always one of the highlights of the editorial team’s year and compiling the 2013 list was no different,” said PrintWeek editor Darryl Danielli. Thanks to everyone who voted in the Power 100 online poll, which received more than 2,500 nominations, and congratulations to Chris Savage, managing director of Round & About Publications, who won the iPod Nano that was up for grabs. The ranking, which features who’s in, who’s out, who’s up, who’s down, the reasons why and the results of the public vote was published in the 19 August issue of PrintWeek out today. An online version will not be available until later this week. If you’re not a subscriber to PrintWeek magazine, you can sign up here....