The regional newspaper publisher has made good headway under chief executive Ashley Highfield in reducing its borrowings, which have fallen from £357m at the time of his appointment. However, this has come at the cost of investment in the business, as most of the cash the company generates is used to service its debt; in return for its last refinancing package in April 2012, the group had to commit to repaying at least £70m a year until September 2015. Of greater concern is the upcoming tightening of two of the group’s financial covenants – consolidated EBITDA to consolidated net borrowing costs and consolidated net borrowings to consolidated EBITDA – from December 2013 through to the end of the facility in September 2015. Taken with the buy-out of the former News International (now News UK) print contract, which helped to pay down debt but led Johnston Press to operate “closer to its financial covenants than was originally intended by both the group and its lenders”, this led the group and its auditors Deloitte to flag up “a material uncertainty” that could give rise to “significant doubt over the Group’s ability to continue as a going concern” in its interim results. This is thought to have precipitated the current negotiations with creditors, which include Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland, with Johnston Press under pressure to negotiate a new deal by the middle of next year according to a report in The Sunday Times. According to the newspaper, the two banks could take “warrants” in the company that would give them the right to buy shares in it at a reduced price, in return for reducing its debt burden....

The regional newspaper publisher has made good headway under chief executive Ashley Highfield in reducing its borrowings, which have fallen from £357m at the time of his appointment. However, this has come at the cost of investment in the business, as most of the cash the company generates is used to service its debt; in return for its last refinancing package in April 2012, the group had to commit to repaying at least £70m a year until September 2015. Of greater concern is the upcoming tightening of two of the group’s financial covenants – consolidated EBITDA to consolidated net borrowing costs and consolidated net borrowings to consolidated EBITDA – from December 2013 through to the end of the facility in September 2015. Taken with the buy-out of the former News International (now News UK) print contract, which helped to pay down debt but led Johnston Press to operate “closer to its financial covenants than was originally intended by both the group and its lenders”, this led the group and its auditors Deloitte to flag up “a material uncertainty” that could give rise to “significant doubt over the Group’s ability to continue as a going concern” in its interim results. This is thought to have precipitated the current negotiations with creditors, which include Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland, with Johnston Press under pressure to negotiate a new deal by the middle of next year according to a report in The Sunday Times. According to the newspaper, the two banks could take “warrants” in the company that would give them the right to buy shares in it at a reduced price, in return for reducing its debt burden....

The new machine, which is sold in the UK by Mimaki’s distributor Hybrid Services, joins the TX400-1800D direct-to-fabric and the TS500-1800 and TS34-1800A transfer paper printers in Mimaki’s textile printing range. Like its predecessor, the TX400-1800D, Mimaki’s TX500-1800B can print reactive dye, sublimation dye, acid dye and pigment inks, making it compatible with a range of pre-treated fabrics, including: cotton; silk, nylon and wool; polyester or transfer paper. All inks come in two litre ink bottles. The machine’s have similar print widths with the TX500 marginally narrower at 1,820mm to the TX400’s 1,850mm. Minimum print width on the TX500 is 210mm and it can handle media weights of up to 60kg and thicknesses up to 5mm. One of the main differences is in speed, where the TX500 is almost 1.5x as fast as the TX400 in comparable print modes (eight-colour, 600x600dpi, eight pass bi-directional printing) with an output of 60sqm. In four-colour printing, the TX500 has a maximum print speed of 140sqm/hr (in 300x300dpi draft mode), dropping to a maximum eight-colour print speed of 85sqm/hr at the same resolution. At its highest 600×1,200dpi resolution, the TX500 has a maximum four-colour print speed of 45sqm/hr and a maximum eight-colour speed of 22sqm/hr. Features include a conveyor belt that feeds the fabric without tension, enabling high-quality printing on elastic materials, and a variable dot function that is said to deliver “rich gradation without banding” and “accurate printing of fine lines”. Mimaki Europe general marketing manager, EMEA, Mike Horsten said: “We believe that the TX500-1800B will speed up the gradually growing transition to digital printing in the worlds of textile and apparel. “Fashion designers and others in the industry will be able to produce vibrant small lot products on unique materials that were not readily available for digital printing in the past. This includes cotton, silk, hemp and rayon.” He added that the TX500 used less ink and water, resulting in less waste, than other printing methods. Pricing was unavailable at the time of writing, but is expected to be announced before the end of the year. The TX400-1800D costs from £55,000....

Malhotra will add Autobond’s range, including its Micro 52 SD TP B2 laminator, 120m/min Mini 105 TPHS B1 laminator and its offline 52 SUV and inline 36×52 spot UV inkjet machines, to its portfolio, which includes products from HP, Fujifilm, Renz and Morgana. Bimal Chaku, vice president of marketing and sales at Malhotra Graphics, said that the two companies had met at Drupa 2012, where Malhotra was looking to add laminating and spot UV varnishing to its range of finishing equipment. “Autobond’s selection of thermal and water-based laminators impressed us, as did the company’s offline spot UV machine,” said Chaku. “The offline capability was vital, as there is plenty of competition for spot UV in the Indian market; however all of it comes integrated with a digital printer. “Autobond’s SUV machine gives us that all-important USP to enable our customers to spot UV varnish for premium applications – such as corporate brochures, product catalogues and even packaging – with either a digital or an offset machine. That versatility makes it a very attractive proposition.” Chaku added that there was “great demand” for finishing equipment in India, from both digital and offset printers, as everyone recognised “how profitable added-value print is”. Autobond managing director John Gilmore said: “The Indian market is becoming an important one for us, with a strong demand for lamination and a growing trend for spot UV varnishing. “We’re delighted to have Malhotra Graphics on board. We both share the same vision of the Indian market and we envisage that, by working together, we can ensure customers have the best machinery, service, and support available.” Autobond has also reported increasing demand for its products in Germany, where its distributor Binderhaus recently received two orders for the Micro 52 SD T laminator at Druck+Form 2013. The Micro 52 SD T is a heavy-duty commercial laminator, aimed at short-run, multi-colour digital B2 and B3 production. It runs at up to 25m/min, has a Heidelberg Stahl suction drum feeder, optional perfecting and a footprint of just 2m x 1m. Gilmore said: “Since launching this new range of laminators, we have sold more machines in Germany in the past two years than in the past 22 years.”...

The new machine, which is sold in the UK by Mimaki’s distributor Hybrid Services, joins the TX400-1800D direct-to-fabric and the TS500-1800 and TS34-1800A transfer paper printers in Mimaki’s textile printing range. Like its predecessor, the TX400-1800D, Mimaki’s TX500-1800B can print reactive dye, sublimation dye, acid dye and pigment inks, making it compatible with a range of pre-treated fabrics, including: cotton; silk, nylon and wool; polyester or transfer paper. All inks come in two litre ink bottles. The machine’s have similar print widths with the TX500 marginally narrower at 1,820mm to the TX400’s 1,850mm. Minimum print width on the TX500 is 210mm and it can handle media weights of up to 60kg and thicknesses up to 5mm. One of the main differences is in speed, where the TX500 is almost 1.5x as fast as the TX400 in comparable print modes (eight-colour, 600x600dpi, eight pass bi-directional printing) with an output of 60sqm. In four-colour printing, the TX500 has a maximum print speed of 140sqm/hr (in 300x300dpi draft mode), dropping to a maximum eight-colour print speed of 85sqm/hr at the same resolution. At its highest 600×1,200dpi resolution, the TX500 has a maximum four-colour print speed of 45sqm/hr and a maximum eight-colour speed of 22sqm/hr. Features include a conveyor belt that feeds the fabric without tension, enabling high-quality printing on elastic materials, and a variable dot function that is said to deliver “rich gradation without banding” and “accurate printing of fine lines”. Mimaki Europe general marketing manager, EMEA, Mike Horsten said: “We believe that the TX500-1800B will speed up the gradually growing transition to digital printing in the worlds of textile and apparel. “Fashion designers and others in the industry will be able to produce vibrant small lot products on unique materials that were not readily available for digital printing in the past. This includes cotton, silk, hemp and rayon.” He added that the TX500 used less ink and water, resulting in less waste, than other printing methods. Pricing was unavailable at the time of writing, but is expected to be announced before the end of the year. The TX400-1800D costs from £55,000....