Antalis sales and profits slip

Paper merchanting group Antalis has posted its year-end results, with a perfect storm of Brexit uncertainty, currency fluctuations and declining paper volumes heavily impacting profitability.
The figures to 31 December showed sales across the group had slipped 2.8% to €2.31bn (£1.98bn. 2017: €2.38bn), while EBITDA fell 11.5% to €74.7m.
The group’s report attributed weaker revenue to a 7% decline in paper volumes across Europe, as well as negative impact from the decline of the pound and the Swiss

Staff Writer, 14 April 2019

Agfa revamps

Agfa has revamped its divisional structure and created three separate divisions for its print-related activities, as the group seeks more partnerships for future growth. Speaking as Agfa-Gevaert Group announced its year-end results to 31 December 2018, chief executive Christian Reinaudo said the business had made “major steps to transform our group”. Its Healthcare IT business has been renamed Agfa Healthcare and has been separated from the rest of the group. The former Agfa Graphics and

Staff Writer, 14 April 2019

Flint Group announces the grand opening of its regional Technology Center Asia Pacific (ATC)

Flint Group have announced the grand opening of its regional Technology Center Asia Pacific (ATC), located at the Shanghai Publishing and Printing College (SPPC), No.100 Shui Feng Road, Shanghai, China. The Technology Center allows continued expansion of technical support, services and provides a location for state-of-the-art development, plate manufacturing, training, and education. The company has invested about €2 million in the technology centre, where Flint Group technicians cooperate with

Staff Writer, 14 April 2019

Asia Print Expo 2019 attracted many visitors

Asia Print Expo 2019, which took place from 21 to 23 February in Bangkok, Thailand, has been hailed a success by both visitors and exhibitors, cementing the event’s position as a meeting point for Asian screen, digital and textile printers and signage. 4,207 individual visitors travelled to Asia Print Expo 2019 from 54 countries. Taking into account visitors attending the event across multiple days, the show attracted a total of 4,681 visitors, an increase of 8% compared with FESPA Asia 2018

Staff Writer, 14 April 2019

Roland DG unveils benchtop flatbed

Roland DG has introduced the latest addition to its VersaUV LEF range of wide-format UV printers, the streamlined LEF2-200 benchtop flatbed.
The LEF2-200 builds on the capabilities of the VersaUV LEF-200, which was launched in 2017, and is available in the UK as of 7 March at a price of £19,999. It can be purchased with an additional BOFA air filtration system or a RotaPrint accessory for direct printing onto cylindrical items.
The new machine is intended for use at promotional print companies

Staff Writer, 14 April 2019

Landa venture could float in London

Benny Landa’s fuel cell venture could float on London’s AIM market, raising tens of millions of pounds in the process according to reports.
He is also the chairman and majority shareholder at GenCell Energy, green energy provider which develops emission-free fuel cells inspired by the fuel technology used in space programmes.
Calcalist reported that GenCell was looking at various financing options, including a possible IPO that could value the business at $200m-$250m.
The Times reported that the

Staff Writer, 14 April 2019

Arjo mill in France will go into liquidation

The Arjowiggins site in Bessé-sur-Braye will go into liquidation, leading to the loss of 580 jobs, while a sale has been agreed for the Château-Thierry plant alongside a partial sale of the Bourray operation.
French media reported the decision of the Commercial Court of Nanterre on 29th March, which comes after attempts to find a buyer for the French business failed. Swedish paper group Lessebo, understood to be a leading bidder, had pulled out of the race “a few weeks ago” according to reports

Staff Writer, 14 April 2019

The first edition of LED & SIGN CHINA 2019 completed in Shenzhen

LED CHINA, Digital Signage 2019 were successfully concluded on the 23rd February at Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Center, presenting the whole industry chain of sign, LED and digital signage for visitors from home and abroad. 551 companies/brands (to name a few: Liantronics, Leyard, Ledman, Rishang, Cosun, Yueming) exhibited in the 3-day shows and welcomed 24,039 professional buyers from 104 countries & regions.  

Staff Writer, 13 March 2019

Ricoh launches new industrial inkjet printhead RICOH MH5320/5340/5320 Type A

Ricoh has announced the launch of a new industrial inkjet printhead RICOH MH5320/5340/5320 Type A. It will be on display at the Shanghai International Ad & Sign Expo in Shanghai, China, from 5 March through 8 March alongside other industrial printing solutions. The RICOH MH5320/5340/5320 Type A printhead will be commercially available from 1 April, 2019.

Staff Writer, 04 March 2019

Hunkeler premieres new and future products at 13th Innovationdays

Swiss post-press manufacturer Hunkeler has unveiled a raft of new products and configurations at its biennial Innovationdays trade show in Lucerne, which has been hailed a huge success by organisers and exhibitors.

Hosting an estimated 6,500 visitors at Messe Luzern during the 13th running of the event, which finishes on 28 February, Hunkeler is headlining a line-up of around 100 exhibitors, with the primary event focus on continuous-feed inkjet workflow, from pre-press through to print and

Staff Writer, 04 March 2019

De La Rue takes on tobacco task for HMRC

HMRC aims to crack down on the illicit sale of tobacco products through a new multimillion-pound contract with De La Rue.

The five-year, £3.5m deal involves the deployment of De La Rue’s track and trace technology on 1.7bn packets of cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco sold in the UK each year.

The EU Tobacco Products Directive, Article 15, means it is now a legal requirement for all tobacco products to be traceable, in order to cut down on counterfeit products.

The digital solution will be

Staff Writer, 04 March 2019

HP printing revenue down in Q1 as supplies sales dip

HP Inc’s printing revenue fell slightly year-on-year in Q1 after its supplies sales slowed.

The manufacturer recorded total sales of $14.7bn for the three-month period to 31 January 2019, up by 1.3% year-on-year but down by 4.3% on the previous quarter.

Revenue in the firm’s printing division was down by 0.4% from $5.08bn to $5.06bn in Q1 and was down by 4.6% on the previous quarter.

Commercial hardware sales grew by 5.1% year-on-year and consumer hardware was up by 2.6% but sales of

Staff Writer, 04 March 2019

Kodak CEO Clarke exits, chairman takes over

Kodak chief executive Jeff Clarke has stepped down from his role with immediate effect in a surprise move.

Clarke has been replaced by chairman Jim Continenza who becomes executive chairman of the business and will take over the responsibilities of CEO.

Clarke joined Kodak five years ago in March 2014, six months after the group emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

In a Kodak statement announcing the changes, Clarke said his departure was by mutual agreement.

He said: "It was a

Staff Writer, 23 February 2019

Ricoh expanded its thermal business

Ricoh has announced the expansion of its thermal business in Europe. Ricoh will invest about 3 billion yen in Ricoh Industrie France S.A.S. to double its coater production capacity, which applies thermal coatings onto paper. The increased production will start in July 2020. Ricoh’s thermal business is global and is mainly focused on the manufacture and distribution of thermal paper and thermal transfer ribbons. Thermal paper allows printed bar codes to be used in point-of-sale food labelling

Staff Writer, 14 February 2019

BOBST launches ‘Helpline Plus AR’

BOBST announced the launch of ‘Helpline Plus AR’, the first ever remote assistance service in the packaging industry to incorporate a smart headset with augmented reality (AR) glasses. Customers requiring technical assistance can wear the smart headset and connect with experts who can simultaneously see what the user sees and offer advice and support in real time.
 “This is a huge step forward in terms of embracing the latest technology to maximize customer experience,” said Julien Laran, head

Staff Writer, 14 February 2019

Agfa and Fujitex signs agreement for distribution of SYNAPS in Japan

Agfa and Fujitex signs agreement for distribution of SYNAPS in Japan. The agreement covers the distribution of Agfa’s synthetic paper SYNAPS in Japan and adds to Fujitex’ extensive offering to the local promotion and office printing market. It confirms the worldwide growing acceptance of SYNAPS and contributes to the further growth of Agfa’s synthetic paper business. The agreement covers the distribution of SYNAPS Xerographic Matt (XM) in view of the particularly strong position that Fujitex

Staff Writer, 14 February 2019

Neenah announces new changes

Neenah has announced that Sean T. Erwin and John F. McGovern will not stand for re-election when their terms expire in May 2019 and that Tony R. Thene has been appointed to its board of directors as an independent director effective February 1, 2019. Thene will be part of the class of directors whose term of office will expire at the 2019 annual meeting, when he will be nominated for election to a three-year term.
Thene currently serves as chief executive officer of Carpenter Technology

Staff Writer, 14 February 2019

Heidelberg steps up activities

Heidelberg and Masterwork have extended their long-standing sales partnership, with the Chinese manufacturer of die-cutting machines and hot foil embossing machines become a strategic anchor shareholder.
Based in the Chinese city of Tianjin, Masterwork is to obtain around 8.5% of Heidelberg share capital under a cash capital increase from authorized capital excluding shareholder subscription rights. The implementation of such capital measure is subject to approval by Heidelberg’s supervisory

Staff Writer, 14 February 2019

Xerox fleshes out turnaround plan

Xerox has outlined a three-year plan to transform the business, initially focusing on restructuring and improving profitability before focusing on growth in adjacent and new markets, including packaging and 3D printing.

Chief executive and vice-chairman John Visentin provided more details of Project Own It, which aims to streamline the business, strip out costs, flatten the management structure, simplify its supply chain and increase accountability and focus on profitability.

“We had a complex

Staff Writer, 13 February 2019

Heidelberg sales dip in Q3 but order backlog indicates strong Q4

Heidelberg’s revenue dropped by 4% year-on-year in Q3 but the company said its order backlog indicates a strong Q4 and its targets for the full-year are still in sight.

The manufacturer’s net sales for the three-month period ended 31 December 2018 came in at €579m (£509m), down from €603m in the equivalent period a year ago. But the company’s nine-month sales of €1.69m were up around 2% on nine-month sales a year prior of €1.66m.

Its order backlog in Q3 was €804m, up 16% year-on-year from

Staff Writer, 13 February 2019

Mondi CEO to head Austrian government ‘digitalisation’ initiative

Mondi chief executive Peter Oswald has been appointed the first president of a new Austrian national forum to support the country’s digital capability.
Margarete Schramböck, the Austrian federal minister of digital and economic affairs, has announced the new independent non-profit initiative – fit4internet – to support the government’s ambitions to increase the digital capability of Austria’s citizens.

Fit4internet will serve as a hub and platform for improving digital competencies in close

Staff Writer, 11 February 2019

Cron establishes branch in Asia to expand overseas reach

Cron has established a branch in Malaysia as it seeks to expand its reach in overseas markets.

Cron Asia is located in Serdang printing industrial park, Kuala Lumpur. Here, Cron demonstrates its product portfolio, intelligent printing system, and supporting services including pre-sale, sale, after-sales training and technical support.

The CRON EZC intelligent printing system is a digital ink supply control system. Through standardization of file design, pre-press process, intelligent

Staff Writer, 28 January 2019

RRD unveils Cloud Direct

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company (RRD) (NYSE:RRD), a leading global provider of multichannel solutions for marketing and business communications, today announced the launch of Cloud Direct by RRD, a trigger-based direct marketing application — housed within Salesforce Marketing Cloud — that improves targeting and extends the Marketing Cloud platform by fully integrating digital and direct mail channels. 

Available within Journey Builder, Marketing Cloud’s cross-channel customer engagement

Staff Writer, 24 January 2019

New EFI CEO takes to the stage at 20th Connect

EFI's new CEO Bill Muir opened proceedings at the firm’s Connect user conference with a pledge that the business would keep on innovating under his leadership, and would improve its execution in delivering solutions to customers.

Muir replaced long standing CEO Guy Gecht last October, and was speaking on the eve of his 100th day in the role.

He quipped that after 100 days he “would have to take responsibility for everything that happens” at the company.

Muir said he had been attracted to

Staff Writer, 24 January 2019

Summa to release new 3.2m-wide cutters

Summa is to release two new wide-format flatbed cutters for the textile and board markets: the F3232 and the F3220.

The new printers are larger-format additions to the Summa F Series and expand upon the Belgian manufacturer’s existing portfolio of high-end cutters. The 3.2x3.2m F3232 will begin shipping in February 2019, with the 3.2x2m F3220 following in April.

They are designed for both textile and board applications, such as flags, banners, POS and signage.

Marketing manager Elice van Es

Staff Writer, 31 December 2018

C&T adds self-adhesive rubber profile to portfolio

C&T Channel Matrix has expanded its Sprintrubba range of rubber profiles with the addition of a new self-adhesive version.

Commercially launched last month following several months of tests, Super Sprint has been designed to speed up the application of rubber profiles to the cutting dies.

C&T said the product maintains all of the characteristics of the original Sprintrubba in terms of longevity and on-press performance, and adds a strong self-adhesive backing.

The new acrylic-based

Staff Writer, 31 December 2018

Fespa 2019 promises 'explosion of possibilities'

The countdown to Fespa 2019 has begun as the global wide-format print expo unveils its latest branding and strapline.

With the promise of an 'Explosion of Possibilities' for visitors, next year’s Fespa show will take place from 14-17 May at Messe Munich, Germany. It marks 20 years since its first appearance in the city in 1999. It has subsequently returned to Munich in 2005, 2010 and 2014, a destination which consistently ranks highly in visitor feedback.

Head of marketing Sarah Farrell said

Staff Writer, 09 December 2018

Konica Minolta enters augmented reality market

Konica Minolta has moved into the augmented reality (AR) market with the launch of a flexible cloud-based tool that can be used to bring printed material to life.
Launched around a month ago, genARate, which requires no coding or previous experience to use, overlays digital content such as video, animations or 3D models onto printed materials.

Targeted users include commercial printers, agencies, central reprographics and marketing departments.

With the genARate Studio augmented reality tool

Staff Writer, 06 December 2018

Full-year and Q4 print revenue up for HP

HP Inc’s revenue increased by 12.3% for the full year and by 10.3% in Q4, with sales in its Printing division up by 11% for the full year and by 9% in Q4.

The manufacturer recorded total sales of $58.5bn (£45.7bn) for the 12-month period ended 31 October 2018, up from $52.1bn a year earlier. For the three-month Q4 period its revenue was up from £13.9bn a year ago to $15.4bn.

Revenue in the firm’s printing division grew from $18.7bn to £20.8bn for the full year, and from $4.86bn to $5.3bn in

Staff Writer, 06 December 2018

ColorJet India associates with Digital HiRes in Spain and Portugal

India’s one of the biggest manufacturer and exporter of wide format inkjet digital printers ColorJet India has appointed Digital HiRes from Spain, as its distributor in Spain and Portugal. Digital Hires, which was set up in 1992, is one of the successful and renowned distributor in Spain, Portugal and the UK, of digital treatment of images and printing systems for the printing industry.

The Spanish company will be marketing all the variants of digital printers from ColorJet like UV, soft

Staff Writer, 06 December 2018