- UK-based UV and IR drying/curing system manufacturer Benford UV returned from Drupa this month with a new distributor for the growing Indian market.
- Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) saw profits rise in its struggling regional division Northcliffe for the first time in four years, according to its half-year results to 1 April.
- Packaging specialist API Foils Europe has hit out at Unite's failure to negotiate with it, as employees at Livingston carry out strike action.
- Unite has won a failure to consult an unfair dismissal claim for members that worked at a number of companies owned by former print owner Phillip Moore.
- Workers at packaging specialist API Foils' Livingston plant will go on strike at midnight tonight over alleged continual mistreatment by the company.
- International Paper has set itself a number of goals to be achieved by 2020 in its 2011 sustainability report.
- Security print specialist API Holographics has bolstered its portfolio of solutions with the launch of its enhanced chrome-based hot stamping security foil for use on vehicle number plates.
- Venture capitalist Adrian Beecroft's controversial Downing Street report on employment law, belatedly published this week, has been welcomed by the print industry.
- Anton Group has continued its 2012 spending spree, adding a Stitchmaster ST 450 from Heidelberg.
- Shelf-ready packaging specialist East Lancashire Box (ELB) has ordered a Bobst Vision-160 die-cutter.
- Employment relations minister Norman Lamb has launched a new online toolkit , which provides first-time employers with a step-by-step guide to taking on a member of staff.
- Commercial printer Hobs Reprographics has purchased a nearline Watkiss PowerSquare 200 booklet making system.
- The Forum of Private Business (FPB) and Buying Support Agency (BSA) have suggested SME printers should pool their buying powers in order to save money.
- Unite has said that it already has plans in place to keep its dispute with Austrian packaging manufacturer Mayr-Melnhof Packaging (MMP) going into 2013.
- Independent publisher Gomer Press has completed a £3m upgrade with a Kolbus KM600 binding line.
- Employees at newspaper giant Trinity Mirror's Glasgow and Watford plants are on the verge of taking industrial action, according to Unite.
- Recycled paper manufacturer Aylesford Newsprint has signed a new four-year agreement with Npower Cogen for the supply of energy to its newsprint operations.
- Finishing equipment supplier IFS has continued to expand its portfolio with the addition of bookbinding and finishing solutions provider SCS Automaberg.
- Unite has advised its members to request an inflation-based pay increase this year, in lieu of a national agreement.
- Four years ago I visited Maidstone prison - not at Her Majesty's pleasure, I hasten to add, but for a feature - and came away impressed by what they were trying to achieve. The print shop manager told me at the time that the goal wasn't necessarily to produce high-quality work, but to produce rehabilitated prisoners, equipped with the skills to become a productive member of society upon release.
