Results for the financial year ending 2 August were again complicated by the charges associated with acquisitions and restructuring at the business. Underlying pre-tax profits increased by 10.7% to £26.8m, on group turnover down 3.2% to £317m. St Ives said that on a like-for-like basis sales were in line with the previous year. Restructuring costs rose from £5.9m to £8.7m, including £2.4m related to the closure of the Leeds direct mail site. The group’s bottom line profit was £5.6m. Following a swathe of acquisitions in marketing services, and the sell-off and closure of non-core print operations, chief executive Patrick Martell said the fundamental realignment of the business had been achieved. “Our transition has been a success,” he stated, pointing to a 35% share of annualised profits from its £64m turnover marketing services wing, which was described as being “ahead of our repositioning target”. Marketing services achieved underlying operating margins of 11.8%. Its operating profit of £7.6m was “more than the operating profit of the entire group in 2009”, noted St Ives. However, 2009 was the group’s ‘annus horribilis’ when it posted its first-ever loss. St Ives’ print operations are now focused on books wing Clays, which accounts for 28% of print revenue, point-of-sale specialist SP Group, and exhibitions and events business Service Graphics. Yesterday St Ives announced the sale of its St Ives Direct business to Cogent B2B, which Martell said completed its exit from “failing” or “commoditised” print markets. “We now have a strong marketing services business, three strong print business that are market leaders in their fields, and a strong balance sheet. I couldn’t be more pleased,” Martell said. “The restructuring of print has now been properly completed and we can focus on growth, not restructuring. We have invested in all our print businesses and have spent about £4m-£5m of new equipment in the new financial year, and we are only a month into it,” he added. Martell said St Ives still had the financial headroom to make major acquisitions if the right opportunity arises. Significantly, the group’s results also show a small surplus in its pension scheme, which last year had a deficit of £20m, and Martell praised the work of finance director Matt Armitage and the fund’s trustees in controlling the liability. A decade ago the deficit in the scheme under FRS17 was almost £62m and St Ives has paid tens of millions into the scheme since to right it. Armitage said: “We take our pension commitment seriously, unlike lots of businesses.” St Ives shares hit a 52-week high of 174.69p last week, but slipped by 3.75p to 169.5p in early trading this morning....

Results for the financial year ending 2 August were again complicated by the charges associated with acquisitions and restructuring at the business. Underlying pre-tax profits increased by 10.7% to £26.8m, on group turnover down 3.2% to £317m. St Ives said that on a like-for-like basis sales were in line with the previous year. Restructuring costs rose from £5.9m to £8.7m, including £2.4m related to the closure of the Leeds direct mail site. The group’s bottom line profit was £5.6m. Following a swathe of acquisitions in marketing services, and the sell-off and closure of non-core print operations, chief executive Patrick Martell said the fundamental realignment of the business had been achieved. “Our transition has been a success,” he stated, pointing to a 35% share of annualised profits from its £64m turnover marketing services wing, which was described as being “ahead of our repositioning target”. Marketing services achieved underlying operating margins of 11.8%. Its operating profit of £7.6m was “more than the operating profit of the entire group in 2009”, noted St Ives. However, 2009 was the group’s ‘annus horribilis’ when it posted its first-ever loss. St Ives’ print operations are now focused on books wing Clays, which accounts for 28% of print revenue, point-of-sale specialist SP Group, and exhibitions and events business Service Graphics. Yesterday St Ives announced the sale of its St Ives Direct business to Cogent B2B, which Martell said completed its exit from “failing” or “commoditised” print markets. “We now have a strong marketing services business, three strong print business that are market leaders in their fields, and a strong balance sheet. I couldn’t be more pleased,” Martell said. “The restructuring of print has now been properly completed and we can focus on growth, not restructuring. We have invested in all our print businesses and have spent about £4m-£5m of new equipment in the new financial year, and we are only a month into it,” he added. Martell said St Ives still had the financial headroom to make major acquisitions if the right opportunity arises. Significantly, the group’s results also show a small surplus in its pension scheme, which last year had a deficit of £20m, and Martell praised the work of finance director Matt Armitage and the fund’s trustees in controlling the liability. A decade ago the deficit in the scheme under FRS17 was almost £62m and St Ives has paid tens of millions into the scheme since to right it. Armitage said: “We take our pension commitment seriously, unlike lots of businesses.” St Ives shares hit a 52-week high of 174.69p last week, but slipped by 3.75p to 169.5p in early trading this morning....

This annual Corporate Sustainability Assessment, conducted by investment specialist RobecoSAM, is based on analysis of the economic, environmental and social performance of 3,000 of ‘the world’s leading companies’, with 333 making it onto the 2013/2014’s list. In addition to being featured in both the European and World indices two years in a row, UPM has also been named the industry leader in environmental sustainability in its sector. It was this year one of two Paper and Forest Products companies to make it onto the DJSI World. The other is Brazilian pulp and paper company Fibria Celulose who was named as industry leader in this sector. “UPM’s Biofore business strategy strongly promotes economic, social, and environmental sustainability throughout its business operations. During the past year we have focused especially on resource efficiency – creating more with less is a key driver for us. In the area of social responsibility, we have focused on work safety. UPM’s global Lost Time Accident Frequency (LTAF) has decreased by 60% in two years”, said vice president for UPM Environment, Päivi Salpakivi-Salomaa. She added: “UPM is continuously developing its operations to reduce its environmental footprint. All of UPM’s businesses have adopted ecodesign in their product development processes, meaning that the environmental aspects, including water, waste, raw-materials, biodiversity and climate change impacts, are systematically integrated into product design at an early stage and cover the entire lifecycle.” Guido Giese, head of indices at RobecoSAM, said: “The DJSI have a double impact. They enable investors to integrate sustainability into their portfolios and at the same time they provide an engagement platform that encourages companies to adopt sustainable best practices. We encourage active participation in our Corporate Sustainability Assessment each year and this year we were happy to see a 31% increase in participation from companies in emerging markets.” UPM also produces over 200 grades of paper certified with the EU Ecolabel, and recently held a day aimed at educating printers, publishers and other paper merchants of the benefits of this accreditation. Speaking at the day, which also included talks from industry figures including the BPIF’s Dale Wallis and Two Sides’ Bob Latham, Tom Hallam, senior specialist, environmental sales support, at UPM said: “The EU EcoLabel is the only environmental label that covers the whole of the paper’s lifecycle. So this is further testament to UPM’s commitment to the environment.”...

This annual Corporate Sustainability Assessment, conducted by investment specialist RobecoSAM, is based on analysis of the economic, environmental and social performance of 3,000 of ‘the world’s leading companies’, with 333 making it onto the 2013/2014’s list. In addition to being featured in both the European and World indices two years in a row, UPM has also been named the industry leader in environmental sustainability in its sector. It was this year one of two Paper and Forest Products companies to make it onto the DJSI World. The other is Brazilian pulp and paper company Fibria Celulose who was named as industry leader in this sector. “UPM’s Biofore business strategy strongly promotes economic, social, and environmental sustainability throughout its business operations. During the past year we have focused especially on resource efficiency – creating more with less is a key driver for us. In the area of social responsibility, we have focused on work safety. UPM’s global Lost Time Accident Frequency (LTAF) has decreased by 60% in two years”, said vice president for UPM Environment, Päivi Salpakivi-Salomaa. She added: “UPM is continuously developing its operations to reduce its environmental footprint. All of UPM’s businesses have adopted ecodesign in their product development processes, meaning that the environmental aspects, including water, waste, raw-materials, biodiversity and climate change impacts, are systematically integrated into product design at an early stage and cover the entire lifecycle.” Guido Giese, head of indices at RobecoSAM, said: “The DJSI have a double impact. They enable investors to integrate sustainability into their portfolios and at the same time they provide an engagement platform that encourages companies to adopt sustainable best practices. We encourage active participation in our Corporate Sustainability Assessment each year and this year we were happy to see a 31% increase in participation from companies in emerging markets.” UPM also produces over 200 grades of paper certified with the EU Ecolabel, and recently held a day aimed at educating printers, publishers and other paper merchants of the benefits of this accreditation. Speaking at the day, which also included talks from industry figures including the BPIF’s Dale Wallis and Two Sides’ Bob Latham, Tom Hallam, senior specialist, environmental sales support, at UPM said: “The EU EcoLabel is the only environmental label that covers the whole of the paper’s lifecycle. So this is further testament to UPM’s commitment to the environment.”...

The deal includes an initial payment of £3m and a deferred payment of £5m, secured against St Ives Direct Bradford’s (SIDB) assets and repayable in 24 monthly installments commencing on 1 November. St Ives Direct Bradford generated a pre-tax profit of £1.2m on sales of £35m for the year to 27 July 2012 and had gross assets of £11.1m, including property, which St Ives will retain ownership of and lease to Cogent B2B at a market rate. Around 180 staff remain at Bradford following the outsourcing of its enclosing operation earlier in the summer, all 180 will now transfer to Cogent B2B. According to its website, Cogent B2B offers consultancy services to distressed SMEs with a turnover of £1m to £60m, although it has recently started acquiring direct mail companies, starting with Bradford-based Prospect Mailing Services, which it purchased in October 2012. This was followed, in November 2012, by the acquisition of Leeds-based Griffin Direct Mailing and today’s announcement of its purchase of St Ives Direct Bradford. St Ives said the disposal was consistent with its strategy to refocus on marketing services and move away from the commoditised sectors of the print market. This began with the sale of its loss-making Dutch multimedia business, St Ives Uden, in 2008. and continued with the sale of its remaining overseas subsidiary, St Ives (USA), in 2009. In the UK, this strategy has resulted in the closure of: St Ives’ Crayford CD and DVD packaging business; its Blackburn, Edenbridge and Leeds direct mail facilities; fine art printer Westerham Press; Sevenoaks Print Finishers; and its Andover web plant, which was closed prior to the sale of magazine printing arm St Ives Web. At the same time St Ives has made numerous marketing services acquisitions, including Occam DM, Tactical Solutions, Response One, Pragma Holdings, Sponge, Amaze, and Branded3 Search, and a minority stake in e-book business Evolved. St Ives chief executive Patrick Martell, who was appointed in April 2009 and has been the driving force behind the reshaping of the business, said: “Following a fundamental realignment of our business, in which we have built a substantial and broadly-based marketing services offering while moving away from commoditised print, it is clear that SIDB no longer fits within our new structure and will benefit from alternative ownership. “This effectively completes the exit from our non-core printing operations, and allows us to focus wholly on strengthening our marketing services offering and remaining print businesses, in line with our stated strategy.” Cogent B2B director Kevin Dunstall was unavailable for comment at the time of writing....