Eastbourne-based Smith & Ouzman, along with four individuals associated with the business, appeared in court yesterday (23 October) on charges brought by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). The SFO said the charges relate to allegations of “agreeing to make payments totaling nearly half a million pounds, contrary to section one Prevention of Corruption Act 1906. It is alleged that these payments were used to influence the award of business contracts to the company.” The precise amount cited by the SFO is £413,552.12. The alleged offences relate to transactions in Mauritania, Ghana, Somaliland and Kenya between November 2006 and December 2010. The SFO began its investigation in October 2010. Alongside the company itself, the individuals charged were: Chris Smith, the former chairman of Smith & Ouzman; Nick Smith, the sales and marketing director of the firm; Tim Forrester, its international sales manager; and Abdirahman Omar, an agent for the business. The first hearing took place yesterday (23 October) at Westminster Magistrates’ Court with the next court appearance scheduled for 6 November at Southwark Crown Court. A spokeswoman for Smith & Ouzman said: “We cannot comment on the allegations, which are entirely contrary to our principles of business conduct.” Smith & Ouzman can trace its print history back to 1845. The 100-employee firm was number 248 in last year’s PrintWeek Top 500 with sales of £9.2m. It produces a wide range of specialist security print items including cheques, tickets, ballot papers, local currencies and other secure documents. Proceedings continue. We are unable to accept comments on this story for legal reasons....

Under the terms of the deal, CGX shareholders will receive $3.44 cash plus 1.651 RRD shares for each share in CGX, equivalent to a cash offer of $62 per share based on RRD’s closing share price on 23 October. RRD said this represented a total transaction value of approximately $620m, in addition to which it will assume Consolidated Graphics’ net debt of $112m. The deal, which has the unanimous agreement of both boards, is expected to close in Q1 2014, subject to the approval of CGX shareholders and the regulators. CGX chairman and chief executive Joe Davis has signed a voting agreement pledging his shareholding, representing approximately 16.5% of CGX outstanding shares, in favour of the merger. CGX reported revenues of $1bn in its results for the year ended 31 March 2013 and an EBITDA of $110m, meaning RRD’s offer (including assumption of net debt) equates to 6.6x EBITDA. One senior print executive remarked that this was “very good for a manufacturing business” adding “clearly, RRD wants to own as much market share as possible and likes CGX’s extensive digital offering – so it’s paying a premium”. RRD recorded net sales of $10.2bn for the 12 months to 31 December 2012 and an adjusted non-GAAP EBITDA of $1.2bn. RR Donnelley’s president and chief executive officer Thomas Quinlan III said: “Consolidated Graphics is an exceptional fit with RR Donnelley and we are delighted to welcome them to our organization. “This strategic combination will complement the RR Donnelley platform and further enhance our ability to provide integrated communications solutions for our valued clients across all industry verticals.” Davis said: “Consolidated Graphics’ success is due to our outstanding employees and their ability to provide the service and responsiveness of a local printing company while offering customers the flexible solutions and competitive pricing available from our wide network. “Our customers will benefit significantly from RR Donnelley’s broad range of printing capabilities and our combined geographic footprint. RR Donnelley’s customers will benefit from the planned adoption of Consolidated Graphics’ local service model for all of its commercial printing group.” Consolidated Graphics claims a world-leading position in digital printing, and is HP’s biggest customer. It runs more than 220 high-end digital presses. It has operations across the USA, a site in Japan, and has a European presence in the Czech Republic. Consolidated Graphics’ share price was at $63.60 at the time of writing....

Under the terms of the deal, CGX shareholders will receive $3.44 cash plus 1.651 RRD shares for each share in CGX, equivalent to a cash offer of $62 per share based on RRD’s closing share price on 23 October. RRD said this represented a total transaction value of approximately $620m, in addition to which it will assume Consolidated Graphics’ net debt of $112m. The deal, which has the unanimous agreement of both boards, is expected to close in Q1 2014, subject to the approval of CGX shareholders and the regulators. CGX chairman and chief executive Joe Davis has signed a voting agreement pledging his shareholding, representing approximately 16.5% of CGX outstanding shares, in favour of the merger. CGX reported revenues of $1bn in its results for the year ended 31 March 2013 and an EBITDA of $110m, meaning RRD’s offer (including assumption of net debt) equates to 6.6x EBITDA. One senior print executive remarked that this was “very good for a manufacturing business” adding “clearly, RRD wants to own as much market share as possible and likes CGX’s extensive digital offering – so it’s paying a premium”. RRD recorded net sales of $10.2bn for the 12 months to 31 December 2012 and an adjusted non-GAAP EBITDA of $1.2bn. RR Donnelley’s president and chief executive officer Thomas Quinlan III said: “Consolidated Graphics is an exceptional fit with RR Donnelley and we are delighted to welcome them to our organization. “This strategic combination will complement the RR Donnelley platform and further enhance our ability to provide integrated communications solutions for our valued clients across all industry verticals.” Davis said: “Consolidated Graphics’ success is due to our outstanding employees and their ability to provide the service and responsiveness of a local printing company while offering customers the flexible solutions and competitive pricing available from our wide network. “Our customers will benefit significantly from RR Donnelley’s broad range of printing capabilities and our combined geographic footprint. RR Donnelley’s customers will benefit from the planned adoption of Consolidated Graphics’ local service model for all of its commercial printing group.” Consolidated Graphics claims a world-leading position in digital printing, and is HP’s biggest customer. It runs more than 220 high-end digital presses. It has operations across the USA, a site in Japan, and has a European presence in the Czech Republic. Consolidated Graphics’ share price was at $63.60 at the time of writing....

The world’s largest security printer said it was on track to make an operating profit of around £90m in 2013/14, up 40% year-on-year, but warned it would fall short of its £100m target. De La Rue set the £100m target as the key aim of its three-year Improvement Plan, which was announced in 2011 and set the goal of raising operating profit from £40m in 2010/11 to £100m in 2013/14. The shortfall was blamed on “more challending trading conditions” for the Currency division and the Cash Processing Solutions (CPS) business, the latter of which will report an operating loss for the first half of 2013/14 and is expected to report a loss for the full year, although De La Rue said it had commenced cost-cutting action and was targeting break even for CPS in 2014/15. Of greater concern was the performance of the Currency division, where De La Rue said overcapacity in the banknote paper market had led to a “worsening pricing environment in the printed banknote market”. Based on recently confirmed orders for the second half of 2013/14 and 2014/15, this pricing pressure is expected to continue. Operating profit for the six months to 28 September 2013 was said to be around £39m, up 18% year-on-year on marginally lower revenues. Banknote print volumes in the first half fell 10% to 2.6bn notes, while banknote paper volumes rose 4% to 4,700 tonnes. The group’s 12 month order book at 28 September 2013 was £232m, up £25m on the start of the year. De La Rue will announce its interim results on 26 November 2013. De La Rue’s share price was down 9.4% at the time of writing at 889p....

The world’s largest security printer said it was on track to make an operating profit of around £90m in 2013/14, up 40% year-on-year, but warned it would fall short of its £100m target. De La Rue set the £100m target as the key aim of its three-year Improvement Plan, which was announced in 2011 and set the goal of raising operating profit from £40m in 2010/11 to £100m in 2013/14. The shortfall was blamed on “more challending trading conditions” for the Currency division and the Cash Processing Solutions (CPS) business, the latter of which will report an operating loss for the first half of 2013/14 and is expected to report a loss for the full year, although De La Rue said it had commenced cost-cutting action and was targeting break even for CPS in 2014/15. Of greater concern was the performance of the Currency division, where De La Rue said overcapacity in the banknote paper market had led to a “worsening pricing environment in the printed banknote market”. Based on recently confirmed orders for the second half of 2013/14 and 2014/15, this pricing pressure is expected to continue. Operating profit for the six months to 28 September 2013 was said to be around £39m, up 18% year-on-year on marginally lower revenues. Banknote print volumes in the first half fell 10% to 2.6bn notes, while banknote paper volumes rose 4% to 4,700 tonnes. The group’s 12 month order book at 28 September 2013 was £232m, up £25m on the start of the year. De La Rue will announce its interim results on 26 November 2013. De La Rue’s share price was down 9.4% at the time of writing at 889p....