Frankfurt Book Fair: ‘Print will always be important’
In his first major public appearance since the £2.4bn merger of Penguin and Random House in July, chief executive Markus Dohle said that print would always be an important part of the publisher’s business. Dohle said: “Our basic strategic assumption is that print will always be important, always—not in 50 years or 100 years—always. And our digital business is of course [growing]. “That is a very simple, but very important assumption. We are basically saying that even 100 years from now, the print business will be a big chunk of our business. It may be 70% percent. Today it’s 80% print and 20% digital. “The buzz here at the fair is 95% digital and 5% print. But I think there is a clear misunderstanding. 80% is actually print today, and in our two biggest markets, North America and the U.K. the growth rates of digital are sort of flattening out a bit.” Dohle went on to explain that in the US and UK, digital sales had started to plateau at around 25% share. “I think it’s quite surprising. But we’ve always believed in print and we feel more encouraged and inspired as ever to invest in print because it will matter always,” he added. “So, we strongly believe that print will always be a big chunk of our business and it doesn’t really matter whether we end up at 50% in the new world balance, at 60% percent, at 40% or whatever. “That means that we will continue to invest in our print business heavily. We are not running away. We call it our zig-zag strategy. While many publishers run away from print, we continue to invest in print: While everybody goes zig, we go zag.” Dohle said that all publishers were making “important strategic calls” in a “rapidly changing market environment” and that those decisions would create new competitive advantages going forward. “We want to create competitive advantages in print and in digital,” he added. Publishers Weekly has published a full transcript of Dohle’s comments here....
read moreHeidelberg UK’s Mark Hogan promoted to global sales role
Hogan, who will officially start his new job on 1 November, described the global sales role as “my ideal job” and added that he would be responsible for “pulling together channel management, product management and product development under one roof and trying to give it more external focus”. “The danger with large organisations is that there’s a danger that you can become too internally-focused maybe and not as nimble as you need to be in the marketplace. So my role is really to ensure that there is an absolute external focus on actively offering products that can demonstrate an ROI,” he added. “Particularly in western Europe and a lot of the developed world, we are into a very mature, consolidating marketplace [and] waiting for replacement business because a piece of kit has worn out is not really a way to maintain or grow market share. “We need to be offering products that can give higher productivity or a value-added feature or a product line extension; we’ve got to be putting things out there that are going to put something on our customers’ bottom line.” Hogan said that he hoped to spend no more than 50% of his time at Heidelberg’s HQ and the rest on the road, conducting face-to-face meetings with customers and sales units. “My role in the UK meant I was in daily contact with customers. In my new role there will be many additional pressures and I know I will have to work to keep in touch with the market and reality on the ground so that we continue to focus on the customer’s real, not assumed, needs.” Heidelberg UK managing director Gerard Heanue said: “This is an excellent opportunity for Mark. His product knowledge combined with his marketing and sales prowess will be put to very good use. We are sad to lose Mark from our own management team but we are delighted he is staying within the group and that he has been promoted to this fantastic role.” PrintWeek understands that Heanue will take on the marketing elements of Hogan’s former role, while Heidelberg UK sales director Jim Todd will drive the product management team in addition to the sales team. Heidelberg UK product manager for post press, Ian Trengrouse, will be responsible for the finishing portfolio. Hogan started in post press in 1988, when he joined Harris Graphics in Slough, a company which was bough by Heidelberg in 1996. He then went to France as sales director for the Sheridan high-volume bindery equipment that was sold by Heidelberg, before joining Heidelberg UK in May of 2002 as business executive, post press. He was promoted to marketing manager and later marketing director for Heidelberg UK prior to his latest promotion to the new global role....
read moreHeidelberg UK’s Mark Hogan promoted to global sales role
Hogan, who will officially start his new job on 1 November, described the global sales role as “my ideal job” and added that he would be responsible for “pulling together channel management, product management and product development under one roof and trying to give it more external focus”. “The danger with large organisations is that there’s a danger that you can become too internally-focused maybe and not as nimble as you need to be in the marketplace. So my role is really to ensure that there is an absolute external focus on actively offering products that can demonstrate an ROI,” he added. “Particularly in western Europe and a lot of the developed world, we are into a very mature, consolidating marketplace [and] waiting for replacement business because a piece of kit has worn out is not really a way to maintain or grow market share. “We need to be offering products that can give higher productivity or a value-added feature or a product line extension; we’ve got to be putting things out there that are going to put something on our customers’ bottom line.” Hogan said that he hoped to spend no more than 50% of his time at Heidelberg’s HQ and the rest on the road, conducting face-to-face meetings with customers and sales units. “My role in the UK meant I was in daily contact with customers. In my new role there will be many additional pressures and I know I will have to work to keep in touch with the market and reality on the ground so that we continue to focus on the customer’s real, not assumed, needs.” Heidelberg UK managing director Gerard Heanue said: “This is an excellent opportunity for Mark. His product knowledge combined with his marketing and sales prowess will be put to very good use. We are sad to lose Mark from our own management team but we are delighted he is staying within the group and that he has been promoted to this fantastic role.” PrintWeek understands that Heanue will take on the marketing elements of Hogan’s former role, while Heidelberg UK sales director Jim Todd will drive the product management team in addition to the sales team. Heidelberg UK product manager for post press, Ian Trengrouse, will be responsible for the finishing portfolio. Hogan started in post press in 1988, when he joined Harris Graphics in Slough, a company which was bough by Heidelberg in 1996. He then went to France as sales director for the Sheridan high-volume bindery equipment that was sold by Heidelberg, before joining Heidelberg UK in May of 2002 as business executive, post press. He was promoted to marketing manager and later marketing director for Heidelberg UK prior to his latest promotion to the new global role....
read moreHeidelberg UK’s Mark Hogan promoted to global sales role
Hogan, who will officially start his new job on 1 November, described the global sales role as “my ideal job” and added that he would be responsible for “pulling together channel management, product management and product development under one roof and trying to give it more external focus”. “The danger with large organisations is that there’s a danger that you can become too internally-focused maybe and not as nimble as you need to be in the marketplace. So my role is really to ensure that there is an absolute external focus on actively offering products that can demonstrate an ROI,” he added. “Particularly in western Europe and a lot of the developed world, we are into a very mature, consolidating marketplace [and] waiting for replacement business because a piece of kit has worn out is not really a way to maintain or grow market share. “We need to be offering products that can give higher productivity or a value-added feature or a product line extension; we’ve got to be putting things out there that are going to put something on our customers’ bottom line.” Hogan said that he hoped to spend no more than 50% of his time at Heidelberg’s HQ and the rest on the road, conducting face-to-face meetings with customers and sales units. “My role in the UK meant I was in daily contact with customers. In my new role there will be many additional pressures and I know I will have to work to keep in touch with the market and reality on the ground so that we continue to focus on the customer’s real, not assumed, needs.” Heidelberg UK managing director Gerard Heanue said: “This is an excellent opportunity for Mark. His product knowledge combined with his marketing and sales prowess will be put to very good use. We are sad to lose Mark from our own management team but we are delighted he is staying within the group and that he has been promoted to this fantastic role.” PrintWeek understands that Heanue will take on the marketing elements of Hogan’s former role, while Heidelberg UK sales director Jim Todd will drive the product management team in addition to the sales team. Heidelberg UK product manager for post press, Ian Trengrouse, will be responsible for the finishing portfolio. Hogan started in post press in 1988, when he joined House Graphics in Slough, a company which was bough by Heidelberg in 1996. He then went to France as sales director for the Sheridan high-volume bindery equipment that was sold by Heidelberg, before joining Heidelberg UK in May of 2002 as business executive, post press. He was promoted to marketing manager and later marketing director for Heidelberg UK prior to his latest promotion to the new global role....
read moreClays feeling v red faced and like a right Rodney over Bridget Jones mix-up
The Bungay-based book printer produced what has been described as a ‘small number’ of early copies of the new Bridget Jones book, Mad About the Boy, containing a 40pp section of Sir David Jason’s autobiography, My Life. Both books were published yesterday, the book trade’s ‘Super Thursday’ when major titles that are expected to be Christmas bestsellers are released. PrintWeek understands that despite St Ives’ use of technology such as Muller Martini’s ASIR system for automatic signature recognition, human error resulted in the mix-up, which affected a small number of copies in the first production run. The two books are the same format, with the same pagination and imposition, on the same paper, and coincidentally neither has differentiating page headers. Clays managing director Kate McFarlan said: “Obviously we are very sorry that it happened and we have apologised to Random House. Whether it’s 20 copies or 200,000 copies a mistake is a mistake. We are very embarrassed.” Sophie Mitchell, publicity manager at Random House imprint Vintage, described the printer as “having a Bridget Jones moment” which resulted in widespread coverage for the story on national media channels. It was yesterday’s most-read news story on the BBC website. Bridget Jones author Helen Fielding saw the funny side, and told ITV News that “nothing turns out quite perfectly”. The incident has resulted in massive additional publicity for both titles. Mad About the Boy is currently number one in Amazon’s bestseller list, with David Jason’s My Life at number 10....
read moreClays feeling v red faced and like a right Rodney over Bridget Jones mix-up
The Bungay-based book printer produced what has been described as a ‘small number’ of early copies of the new Bridget Jones book, Mad About the Boy, containing a 40pp section of Sir David Jason’s autobiography, My Life. Both books were published yesterday, the book trade’s ‘Super Thursday’ when major titles that are expected to be Christmas bestsellers are released. PrintWeek understands that despite St Ives’ use of technology such as Muller Martini’s ASIR system for automatic signature recognition, human error resulted in the mix-up, which affected a small number of copies in the first production run. The two books are the same format, with the same pagination and imposition, on the same paper, and coincidentally neither has differentiating page headers. Clays managing director Kate McFarlan said: “Obviously we are very sorry that it happened and we have apologised to Random House. Whether it’s 20 copies or 200,000 copies a mistake is a mistake. We are very embarrassed.” Sophie Mitchell, publicity manager at Random House imprint Vintage, described the printer as “having a Bridget Jones moment” which resulted in widespread coverage for the story on national media channels. It was yesterday’s most-read news story on the BBC website. Bridget Jones author Helen Fielding saw the funny side, and told ITV News that “nothing turns out quite perfectly”. The incident has resulted in massive additional publicity for both titles. Mad About the Boy is currently number one in Amazon’s bestseller list, with David Jason’s My Life at number 10....
read moreSME lending pays off for Close Brothers
Close Brothers banking division grew its loan book by 13% to £4.6bn over the 12 months. Between 2009 and 2012 Close Brothers increased its lending to SMEs by 20% year-on-year as it took advantage of high street banks pulling out of the SME market. Chief executive Preben Prebensen said in his joint statement with chairman Strone Macpherson: “It is clear that trust in the financial services sector and consumer confidence continue to be low. Despite this, we have successfully continued to build our business through the cycle, supporting SMEs as their businesses grow.” Close Brothers Commercial loan book grow 13% to £1.8bn on the back of a 12% increase in asset finance loans to £1.5bn and an 18% hike in the invoice finance loan book, from £308.7m to £363.4m. Prebensen said: “There is widespread recognition of the role SMEs will play in the economic recovery, but they remain under-served by the banking sector. “We currently lend to over 23,000 SMEs in our commercial businesses and we believe that our cautious, high-quality credit underwriting and service-led approach together with our reputation as a trusted, reliable lender place us in a strong position for further growth in this market.”...
read moreSME lending pays off for Close Brothers
Close Brothers banking division grew its loan book by 13% to £4.6bn over the 12 months. Between 2009 and 2012 Close Brothers increased its lending to SMEs by 20% year-on-year as it took advantage of high street banks pulling out of the SME market. Chief executive Preben Prebensen said in his joint statement with chairman Strone Macpherson: “It is clear that trust in the financial services sector and consumer confidence continue to be low. Despite this, we have successfully continued to build our business through the cycle, supporting SMEs as their businesses grow.” Close Brothers Commercial loan book grow 13% to £1.8bn on the back of a 12% increase in asset finance loans to £1.5bn and an 18% hike in the invoice finance loan book, from £308.7m to £363.4m. Prebensen said: “There is widespread recognition of the role SMEs will play in the economic recovery, but they remain under-served by the banking sector. “We currently lend to over 23,000 SMEs in our commercial businesses and we believe that our cautious, high-quality credit underwriting and service-led approach together with our reputation as a trusted, reliable lender place us in a strong position for further growth in this market.”...
read moreRoyal Mail shares leap 36% as CWU blasts ‘greedy’ private investors
Yesterday, private investors were informed of their allocation, which was scaled back to 227 shares (£749.10 worth at the 330p offer price) for applications up to £10,000; those who applied for more than £10,000 of shares received nothing. The IPO was hugely oversubscribed, with 700,000 private investors applying for the retail portion of the offering, which comprised 30% of the shares being sold (the remaining 70% went to institutional investors). According to BBC business editor Robert Peston, investors applied for a combined £27bn worth of shares, which at the top of their 260-330p offer range were priced at just £1.7bn. This has inevitably lead to repeated claims that the government priced the offering too cheaply. Peston said: “A 36% gap between market price and privatisation price is far wider than would normally be thought necessary to whet punters’ appetite for future privatisations.” However, business secretary Vince Cable told the Today programme that the majority of the shares had gone to “long-term stable investors”, adding that where the share price settled in three or six months’ time was more important than any short-term volatility. “You get an enormous amount of froth and speculation in the aftermath of a big IPO of this kin,” he said. “The bulk of the shares have gone to long-term institutional investors, stable investors, some overseas investors, but mainly British pension funds and insurance companies who are there for the long term. “The objective of the exercise, which fits in with what we want for the Royal Mail, is to make sure it has stable, long-term investors.” So far the government has sold a 52% stake in Royal Mail and given away a further 10% to Royal Mail employees, each of whom have received around £2,200 worth of shares (except for the 371 of Royal Mail’s 150,000 employees that opted out of the share offer). According to Peston, around 15,000 Royal Mail employees applied for shares worth a combined £52m in the retail offering (on top of their free allocation) and have had their applicatications met in full up to £10,000. Royal Mail staff will not be able to sell their shares for 12 months. Of the government’s remaining 38% stake, a further 8% (the over-allotment option) is likely to be sold in the coming 30 days; while the final 30% stake could be sold next summer. The CWU, which is currently balloting its members for strike action against the privatisation, staged a demonstration outside the London Stock Exchange this morning, with demonstrators dressed as robbers with swag bags representing “private investors being allowed to steal public assets”. CWU general secretary Billy Hayes said: “The massive jump in the share price confirms that the government and its expensive city advisors got the pricing structure wrong and have undervalued this treasured national institution. “The taxpayer has lost out immediately and we all now face an uncertain future for our postal services which will be run for profit instead of public service. Privatisation is about greed.”...
read moreRoyal Mail shares leap 36% as CWU blasts ‘greedy’ private investors
Yesterday, private investors were informed of their allocation, which was scaled back to 227 shares (£749.10 worth at the 330p offer price) for applications up to £10,000; those who applied for more than £10,000 of shares received nothing. The IPO was hugely oversubscribed, with 700,000 private investors applying for the retail portion of the offering, which comprised 30% of the shares being sold (the remaining 70% went to institutional investors). According to BBC business editor Robert Peston, investors applied for a combined £27bn worth of shares, which at the top of their 260-330p offer range were priced at just £1.7bn. This has inevitably lead to repeated claims that the government priced the offering too cheaply. Peston said: “A 36% gap between market price and privatisation price is far wider than would normally be thought necessary to whet punters’ appetite for future privatisations.” However, business secretary Vince Cable told the Today programme that the majority of the shares had gone to “long-term stable investors”, adding that where the share price settled in three or six months’ time was more important than any short-term volatility. “You get an enormous amount of froth and speculation in the aftermath of a big IPO of this kin,” he said. “The bulk of the shares have gone to long-term institutional investors, stable investors, some overseas investors, but mainly British pension funds and insurance companies who are there for the long term. “The objective of the exercise, which fits in with what we want for the Royal Mail, is to make sure it has stable, long-term investors.” So far the government has sold a 52% stake in Royal Mail and given away a further 10% to Royal Mail employees, each of whom have received around £2,200 worth of shares (except for the 371 of Royal Mail’s 150,000 employees that opted out of the share offer). According to Peston, around 15,000 Royal Mail employees applied for shares worth a combined £52m in the retail offering (on top of their free allocation) and have had their applicatications met in full up to £10,000. Royal Mail staff will not be able to sell their shares for 12 months. Of the government’s remaining 38% stake, a further 8% (the over-allotment option) is likely to be sold in the coming 30 days; while the final 30% stake could be sold next summer. The CWU, which is currently balloting its members for strike action against the privatisation, staged a demonstration outside the London Stock Exchange this morning, with demonstrators dressed as robbers with swag bags representing “private investors being allowed to steal public assets”. CWU general secretary Billy Hayes said: “The massive jump in the share price confirms that the government and its expensive city advisors got the pricing structure wrong and have undervalued this treasured national institution. “The taxpayer has lost out immediately and we all now face an uncertain future for our postal services which will be run for profit instead of public service. Privatisation is about greed.”...
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