Opinion

In January this year, when Polestar announced it would end printing at its Greaves plant, chief executive Barry Hibbert called on the European industry to consolidate further. "There is too much print capacity in Europe," he said, "and Polestar has been prepared to take a lead on this. For the sake of the market I hope other printers will do the same."

Our two biggest stories this week suggest Hibbert’s hopes are coming to fruition. First, Polestar’s rumoured plan to buy Wyndeham, which would create a group with turnover of close to £500m. Second, RSDB has finally been granted its wish to join forces with Quebecor World’s European operations.

Should the Polestar/Wyndeham deal happen (and I stress that neither company has confirmed the speculation), it would make a formidable commercial print group and certainly the UK’s biggest. However, it seems likely some sort of restructure would result which would, we can imagine, involve taking out more capacity. When it comes to downsizing Hibbert has never been one to shy away from the tough decisions.

Come to that, nor has Wyndeham chief executive Paul Utting. Could it be last summer’s closure of the Luton sheetfed site and November’s sale of part of the business in an MBO were designed to tee the group up for an acquisition?

Meanwhile, Roto Smeets chief executive John Caris is bound to be relieved that he can finally merge with Quebecor World after the failed buyout late last year. Again, I suspect HHBV, the finance company behind the deal, is likely to look for opportunities to streamline that business. The unions and works councils are likely to have some very difficult meetings with management ahead.

The next few months won’t be much fun in the long-run sector. I only hope the industry will come out on top.

Josh Brooks is deputy editor of PrintWeek