Downton saves Charles Gee Group subsidiary from liquidation
The deal was finalised on Friday (25 October) and will see CM Downton take on all 180 C&H staff and take over the £23m turnover business’s operations with immediate effect. Andrew Downton, managing director of CM Downton, said: “The Downton Group has been looking to expand its business through either acquisition or mergers, and the C&H business was a perfect match. We both work in the same sectors – in particular with paper and publishing clients – and there are synergies for both businesses that made the deal a no-brainer. “C&H is a fantastic business with a great heritage, which unfortunately had suffered through the cash flow difficulties of the holding company. To be able to save this business – and its staff – while driving forward our own business was too good an opportunity to turn down. “We would like to clearly state that Downton has absolute confidence in Steve Mercer and the management team at C&H, and we will continue to work with them going forward as we build up this great business.” Phil Armstrong, partner at FRP Advisory and joint administrator, said: “We are delighted to have found a new home in CM Downton for the business of C&H, its staff and its array of loyal customers. “For more than 50 years C&H has transported core parts to Britain’s manufacturing base and its services have been integral to their success – that continuity of service is now secured under new ownership. “We would like in particular to thank the support of C&H customers which helped ensure a successful, swift turnaround through the protection of the administration process. We wish the purchaser and everyone involved with the business continued success for the future.” The deal means that 180 jobs are being rescued and sees Downton take over assets, including 130 tractor units and 250 trailers added to the Gloucestershire-based haulier’s...
read moreMCM launches XMPie software as a managed service offering
Rather than invest in this package outright, printers can now apparently pay as little as a few hundred pounds, depending on the number of campaigns the software is used for. Flyte director Marian Stefani explained that this enables printers to test appetite for variable data campaigns, marketing analytics, web-to-print and cross-media offerings, before making a significant investment. “The barriers to printers getting into the cross-media space currently are their customers not understanding this offering, not understanding the ROI they could get, believing it will be too costly or it just not even occurring to customers to ask their printer if they could help with this. The main barrier is that clients also often don’t trust their printer to do this,” she said. “But this SAAMS service allows printers to go to customers and say ‘well let’s just try it’.” Stefani added that MCM’s aim was not only to offer cheaper initial access to the technology, but also to offer strong support to printers in rolling out a cross-media offering. She said: “We can go into a printers and not only support the technology but the approach to clients as well. We can take away all of the barriers which stop printers doing this, including the sale and going right through to the IT and management of it. We can help at all levels then gradually hand back to the printers.” XMPie has been happy to partner with MCM on this in view of making more sales of ownership of the XMPie package in future. Stefani said: “XMPie has been incredibly supportive. They’ve been happy to work with us because each SAAMS might turn into a sale outright. And they want to make the product more successful and well known.” But MCM’s SAAMS offering is also designed for indefinite use by those for whom the cost of XMPie ownership is too high, qualified Stefani. She said: “Buying the system is often prohibitively expensive to the printer. It can cost tens of thousands to get a system of equivalent power to what we can offer as SAAMS. But this way they can use it for as a little as a few hundred pounds up to several thousand.” Users of this SAAMS XMPie will interact with a platform branded as ‘Multi Channel Machine powered by XMPie’. MCM currently has six Multi Channel Machine customers, and reported high interest at Cross Media 2013 last week, where the offering was officially launched....
read moreMCM launches XMPie software as a managed service offering
Rather than invest in this package outright, printers can now apparently pay as little as a few hundred pounds, depending on the number of campaigns the software is used for. Flyte director Marian Stefani explained that this enables printers to test appetite for variable data campaigns, marketing analytics, web-to-print and cross-media offerings, before making a significant investment. “The barriers to printers getting into the cross-media space currently are their customers not understanding this offering, not understanding the ROI they could get, believing it will be too costly or it just not even occurring to customers to ask their printer if they could help with this. The main barrier is that clients also often don’t trust their printer to do this,” she said. “But this SAAMS service allows printers to go to customers and say ‘well let’s just try it’.” Stefani added that MCM’s aim was not only to offer cheaper initial access to the technology, but also to offer strong support to printers in rolling out a cross-media offering. She said: “We can go into a printers and not only support the technology but the approach to clients as well. We can take away all of the barriers which stop printers doing this, including the sale and going right through to the IT and management of it. We can help at all levels then gradually hand back to the printers.” XMPie has been happy to partner with MCM on this in view of making more sales of ownership of the XMPie package in future. Stefani said: “XMPie has been incredibly supportive. They’ve been happy to work with us because each SAAMS might turn into a sale outright. And they want to make the product more successful and well known.” But MCM’s SAAMS offering is also designed for indefinite use by those for whom the cost of XMPie ownership is too high, qualified Stefani. She said: “Buying the system is often prohibitively expensive to the printer. It can cost tens of thousands to get a system of equivalent power to what we can offer as SAAMS. But this way they can use it for as a little as a few hundred pounds up to several thousand.” Users of this SAAMS XMPie will interact with a platform branded as ‘Multi Channel Machine powered by XMPie’. MCM currently has six Multi Channel Machine customers, and reported high interest at Cross Media 2013 last week, where the offering was officially launched....
read moreDownton saves Charles Gee Group subsidiary from liquidation
The deal was finalised on Friday (25 October) and will see CM Downton take on all 180 C&H staff and take over the £23m turnover business’s operations with immediate effect. Andrew Downton, managing director of CM Downton, said: “The Downton Group has been looking to expand its business through either acquisition or mergers, and the C&H business was a perfect match. We both work in the same sectors – in particular with paper and publishing clients – and there are synergies for both businesses that made the deal a no-brainer. “C&H is a fantastic business with a great heritage, which unfortunately had suffered through the cash flow difficulties of the holding company. To be able to save this business – and its staff – while driving forward our own business was too good an opportunity to turn down. “We would like to clearly state that Downton has absolute confidence in Steve Mercer and the management team at C&H, and we will continue to work with them going forward as we build up this great business.” Phil Armstrong, partner at FRP Advisory and joint administrator, said: “We are delighted to have found a new home in CM Downton for the business of C&H, its staff and its array of loyal customers. “For more than 50 years C&H has transported core parts to Britain’s manufacturing base and its services have been integral to their success – that continuity of service is now secured under new ownership. “We would like in particular to thank the support of C&H customers which helped ensure a successful, swift turnaround through the protection of the administration process. We wish the purchaser and everyone involved with the business continued success for the future.” The deal means that 180 jobs are being rescued and sees Downton take over assets, including 130 tractor units and 250 trailers added to the Gloucestershire-based haulier’s...
read moreLanda forecasts market growth in white paper
In a white paper titled ‘Accelerating the growth of packaging production in the 21st century’, Landa provides a profile of the $82bn folding carton market, which is the target market for the B1 format S10FC. According to the report, global consumption of cartonboard currently stands at 43m tonnes a year and is expected to grow a 4.5% annually for the next three years due to global population and economic trends as well as technological advancements “unique to packaging and folding carton converting”. Landa claims that the trend towards more versioned, private label goods and co-branded products, as well as increased frequency of packaging design changes, is resulting in shorter runs and time-to-market for new product introductions. The white paper states: “New market dynamics are forcing a significant push toward short run package production. For example if a personal care product line had 100,000 boxes produced in a single run, today, due to versioning and segmentation (more fragrances, hair types etc.), that run amount would be split into eight versions of 12,000 boxes. As the short-run phenomenon unfolds, we will undoubtedly see a steady increase in digital packaging production.” However, Landa argues that “even current digital technology, inkjet included, struggles to meet the minimum standards of quality and total cost of ownership”. The company added that even with the reductions in make-ready time on the latest generation of sheetfed offset presses, “productivity slows down drastically with changes of ink. Plus, the current expense of hardware and hands-on operation leads to a prohibitively high total cost of ownership, or TCO”. Ila Bialystok, Landa vice president of marketing, said: “The white paper is the result of our intensive study of the packaging industry and the folding carton segment in preparation for the launch of the Landa S10FC Nanographic Printing Press. “During the last year, Landa representatives have been on an amazing global tour in which we met with many of our customers as well as industry analysts and end users. Everyone shared their challenges, goals, and vision for the industry. We hope that by reading the white paper, you’ll feel as excited as we are about the industry and our game-changing...
read moreLanda forecasts market growth in white paper
In a white paper titled ‘Accelerating the growth of packaging production in the 21st century’, Landa provides a profile of the $82bn folding carton market, which is the target market for the B1 format S10FC. According to the report, global consumption of cartonboard currently stands at 43m tonnes a year and is expected to grow a 4.5% annually for the next three years due to global population and economic trends as well as technological advancements “unique to packaging and folding carton converting”. Landa claims that the trend towards more versioned, private label goods and co-branded products, as well as increased frequency of packaging design changes, is resulting in shorter runs and time-to-market for new product introductions. The white paper states: “New market dynamics are forcing a significant push toward short run package production. For example if a personal care product line had 100,000 boxes produced in a single run, today, due to versioning and segmentation (more fragrances, hair types etc.), that run amount would be split into eight versions of 12,000 boxes. As the short-run phenomenon unfolds, we will undoubtedly see a steady increase in digital packaging production.” However, Landa argues that “even current digital technology, inkjet included, struggles to meet the minimum standards of quality and total cost of ownership”. The company added that even with the reductions in make-ready time on the latest generation of sheetfed offset presses, “productivity slows down drastically with changes of ink. Plus, the current expense of hardware and hands-on operation leads to a prohibitively high total cost of ownership, or TCO”. Ila Bialystok, Landa vice president of marketing, said: “The white paper is the result of our intensive study of the packaging industry and the folding carton segment in preparation for the launch of the Landa S10FC Nanographic Printing Press. “During the last year, Landa representatives have been on an amazing global tour in which we met with many of our customers as well as industry analysts and end users. Everyone shared their challenges, goals, and vision for the industry. We hope that by reading the white paper, you’ll feel as excited as we are about the industry and our game-changing...
read moreJohnston Press in ‘crunch talks’ with lenders
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....
read moreJohnston Press in ‘crunch talks’ with lenders
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....
read more10 Ways to Differentiate Your Brand with Cool Varnishes, Inks, and Substrates
This article was contributed by Dr. Mark Bohan, vice president, Technology and Research, Printing Industries of America, who is presenting “Jazzing Up Your Brand with Cool Varnishes, Inks, and Substrates” at the 2013 Color Management Conference, December 7–10, in Phoenix, AZ. The communications industry today is highly competitive with different message forms used to communicate with customers from mass media and electronic communications to printed material. In recent years we’ve seen many new technological developments to enhance the impact of printed material visually, as well as addressing our other senses, like touch and smell. These developments also allow print to interact with electronic devices. With these new approaches, brands and companies can differentiate their products to increase customer awareness and satisfaction. I have the great pleasure of witnessing many of these new technologies in product demonstrations, trade shows, open houses, and from visits to printers using the different solutions. I look forward to sharing these findings with you in this session at the 2013 Color Management Conference this December in Phoenix, AZ. Here is a list of ten different technologies* your company can use to differentiate your product: Raised coatingsProduced inline on an offset or digital printing press, raised coatings create textures that can be from one micron to well in excess 100. New solutions offline allow great register to the pre-printed product and can introduce secondary sparkling or metallic effects, for instance. Lenticular printingIntroduce depth and movement with images produced on lenticular lenses. Interlace the images and print using many different print processes. Metallic effectsMake the print shiny, be it through the use of metallic inks, substrates, or the introduction of foiling in the production. This can easily be designed and visualized to go mainstream. Scented coatingMimic the smell of the product or location with scents in either a coating or ink. Whatever your desire, there will be the scents available to use! 3D texture with inkjetBuild up a 3D image using flatbed inkjet, create a wood-paneling effect, reproduce an old master, or create highly personalized wall coverings. Reticulated coatingsCreate that special look by using coatings that do not fully flow on the substrate producing a textured feel to the coated area. Thermochromic inksThe temperature changes and so does the color—have your drink tell you when it’s ice cold! Laser diecuttingUsing lasers to create individualized patterns in printed sheets, these can vaporize the substrate to provide great detail and impact. Inks for thermoformingPrint it on a flat surface and then use thermoforming to create three-dimensional items in many different run lengths—personalize each of the items with digital. Fluorescent coatings and inksEither as a spot or flood, this will fluoresce under different lighting conditions; it could be for security of a ticket or to make the customer feel special! And finally, by adding additional components it is possible to add value to the customer, just one of many possible examples would be … Near-field communicationPrinted materials interact with electronic communication tools, such as a smartphone, for items such as smart posters and packaging. I invite you to come to the Color Management Conference and get a great opportunity to see and evaluate the different solutions and techniques available—it is sure to excite! For details, just visit...
read more10 Ways to Differentiate Your Brand with Cool Varnishes, Inks, and Substrates
This article was contributed by Dr. Mark Bohan, vice president, Technology and Research, Printing Industries of America, who is presenting “Jazzing Up Your Brand with Cool Varnishes, Inks, and Substrates” at the 2013 Color Management Conference, December 7–10, in Phoenix, AZ. The communications industry today is highly competitive with different message forms used to communicate with customers from mass media and electronic communications to printed material. In recent years we’ve seen many new technological developments to enhance the impact of printed material visually, as well as addressing our other senses, like touch and smell. These developments also allow print to interact with electronic devices. With these new approaches, brands and companies can differentiate their products to increase customer awareness and satisfaction. I have the great pleasure of witnessing many of these new technologies in product demonstrations, trade shows, open houses, and from visits to printers using the different solutions. I look forward to sharing these findings with you in this session at the 2013 Color Management Conference this December in Phoenix, AZ. Here is a list of ten different technologies* your company can use to differentiate your product: Raised coatingsProduced inline on an offset or digital printing press, raised coatings create textures that can be from one micron to well in excess 100. New solutions offline allow great register to the pre-printed product and can introduce secondary sparkling or metallic effects, for instance. Lenticular printingIntroduce depth and movement with images produced on lenticular lenses. Interlace the images and print using many different print processes. Metallic effectsMake the print shiny, be it through the use of metallic inks, substrates, or the introduction of foiling in the production. This can easily be designed and visualized to go mainstream. Scented coatingMimic the smell of the product or location with scents in either a coating or ink. Whatever your desire, there will be the scents available to use! 3D texture with inkjetBuild up a 3D image using flatbed inkjet, create a wood-paneling effect, reproduce an old master, or create highly personalized wall coverings. Reticulated coatingsCreate that special look by using coatings that do not fully flow on the substrate producing a textured feel to the coated area. Thermochromic inksThe temperature changes and so does the color—have your drink tell you when it’s ice cold! Laser diecuttingUsing lasers to create individualized patterns in printed sheets, these can vaporize the substrate to provide great detail and impact. Inks for thermoformingPrint it on a flat surface and then use thermoforming to create three-dimensional items in many different run lengths—personalize each of the items with digital. Fluorescent coatings and inksEither as a spot or flood, this will fluoresce under different lighting conditions; it could be for security of a ticket or to make the customer feel special! And finally, by adding additional components it is possible to add value to the customer, just one of many possible examples would be … Near-field communicationPrinted materials interact with electronic communication tools, such as a smartphone, for items such as smart posters and packaging. I invite you to come to the Color Management Conference and get a great opportunity to see and evaluate the different solutions and techniques available—it is sure to excite! For details, just visit...
read more