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do you
think the
coronavirus
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Is the
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during the
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crisis?
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NEWS DIGEST
Printweek April & May 2020
Prime Group
fast-tracked to
produce visors
for NHS staff
Prime Group’s efforts to produce
much-needed PPE visors for
frontline health workers hit the
Heidelberg details virus impact
Heidelberg
is making
data from
thousands
of its
presses
worldwide publicly available as it
charts the impact of the coronavirus
on different parts of the
printing industry – and the stats
depict the severity of the situation
for UK commercial print. The
interactive charting shows the
impact of the pandemic on print
volumes in commercial printing,
and packaging and labels, and
currently extends to about 50
countries. According to the data,
by the 13 April, UK commercial
print output had already crashed
to the most serious impact level.
Jail for printer fraudster
A woman has been sentenced to
22 months in prison after being
found guilty of embezzling almost
a quarter of a million pounds from
a Scottish print firm. Sarah
Cockburn, 33, worked as an
account manager for the Glasgow
printing company James McVicar
Printers between January 2013
and July 2019. During that time,
she used the company’s systems to
make 799 payments totalling
£239,207.28 to bank accounts in
her name. She was sentenced last
month.
Admin looms for Spicers Office
Team
Spicers Office Team (SPOT)
appears increasingly likely to
pre-pack in some form after the
business confirmed it had filed a
notice of intention to appoint
administrators. The move
excludes ZenOffice and Spicers
Ireland. Last week, it emerged
that SPOT was working with
advisers to urgently find a buyer,
with the board “exploring a number
of options”. SPOT is a nationwide
distributor of stationery and
office supplies, and its business
services include marketing, distribution
and contract support.
Former Polestar execs reunited
at new venture
Two high-profile
former Polestar
directors have
come together
again with a new
investment
venture. Former
Polestar chief
executive Barry Hibbert (pictured)
and chief operating officer
Peter Andreou, who more
recently headed Circle Media, are
two of the three directors behind
newly-formed company Alpha
Financial Investments, which was
registered at Companies House
last month. The investment focus
of the new venture is not clear. It
is described as a “financial services
holding company” at
Companies House.
LSC looks at sale options
US print giant LSC
Communications has appointed
investment bankers to explore a
sale of the business that could see
it broken up. The $3.3bn turnover
(£2.7bn) business filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
last month. A week later,
Printweek revealed that LSC hired
investment banking firm Evercore
to “explore a sale of the company
or the four segments separately”
under the codename “Project
Libra”.
Sale and HP back option now
part of CBILS
The government-backed CBILS
finance scheme now includes a
“sale and HP back” option to
release working capital that could
have appeal for some print businesses.
Compass Business
Finance – one of nearly 50 accredited
lenders working to deliver
Coronavirus Business
Interruption Loan Scheme
(CBILS) funding – said that businesses
could potentially refinance
current hire purchase or lease
agreements, or unencumbered
machinery
KPP progresses Antalis deal
Progress has been made in
Kokusai Pulp & Paper’s takeover
of merchanting group Antalis,
with two key steps now complete.
€3.2bn-turnover KPP’s proposed
takeover deal was announced at
the end of March, subject to a
Kokusai Pulp & Paper set to take over Antalis
“I was bigging up
print. My whole pitch
was that I love print
and like innovating
with print” Talking Print
founder and managing director
David Hyams after he came away
empty-handed from his Dragons’
Den pitch for an investment in his
Talkies personalised video cards
this year
Well into next
year
Six months
Three months
25%