Review of 2013: August

Acquisitions, investments and insolvencies: all the action from a year in print

The former director of failed printer Clowes, Saul Loggenberg, was banned from being a UK company director for 11 years following an investigation by The Insolvency Service… Pan-European book printing group CPI was acquired by a consortium of new owners, the majority investor being French conglomerate Impala. The company subsequently made a major investment in its digital book production facilities that included some kit from failed group MPG… 500 Communication Workers Union representatives voted unanimously for strike action over security of job protection and service agreements at Royal Mail. The Union subsequently held a consultative ballot of Parcelforce members on the issues of Royal Mail privatisation, pensions and pay... Speculation was rife that York Mailing was close to buying The Artisan Press in what would be its first acquisition since securing £10m in new funding. As it turned out, the acquisition was of The Lettershop Group instead… CFH invested £1.4m in a raft of Xerox equipment to boost output and services at two of its print and mail sites… Tesco has a new head of marketing procurement for print, paper and post, Cedric Clarke, following the departure of Katleen Pelsmakers… KBA UK completed the reorganisation of its sheetfed presses sales team with the appointment of new sales manager James Thomas… July ABC figures revealed that all bar one of the national newspaper sectors recorded an increase in circulation compared with June as a royal birth and a British Wimbledon champion boosted the number of souvenir editions… Tributes were paid to "larger than life" Allan Hicks, founder of Cromwell Press, who died of cancer aged 61… The BPIF launched a new version of its colour management certification scheme, allowing more types of printers to be eligible for this independently verified award… PrintWeek's 12th annual Power 100 ranking of the industry's most influential individuals was published and was headed up by York Mailing's Chris Ingram, signalling the return of a printer to the number one slot… The government was criticised for a lack of conviction and a disappointing response to a cross-party inquiry into late payments to SMEs… Nick Craig Waller left the Informa Print Group after seven years to become head of marketing at the Dubai World Trade Centre… Kodak broke the news that it was to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on 3 September after the US Bankruptcy Court approved its reorganisation plan… Paragon Group UK acquired the trade and assets of South Yorkshire-based Horner Brothers Print Group through a pre-pack administration… Sign and display specialist Pyramid Display Materials Group has bought self-adhesive vinyl distributor Sydney Beaumont to expand into new markets… The shortfall to creditors resulting from the collapse of MPG Printgroup was set to exceed £10m, according to the administrator's report… UK inkjet printing specialist Xaar's pre-tax profits trebled in H1 2013, compared with the same period last year for which it posted profits of £6.7m, to £22.3m…