Review of 2014: June

All the business news, from acquisitions to liquidations, investments to divestments, from a year in the industry.

GI Solutions invested £3m in two HP T-series high-speed colour inkjet presses, taking the £37m-turnover group near to generating 50% of its print sales from digital... Ashford Colour Press was fined £13,000 and ordered to pay £1,278 in costs after a worker lost a finger and seriously injured another during unsafe maintenance work on a bookbinding machine in 2013... Book and journal printer Page Brothers spent around £1.3m on a five colour Heidelberg CX 102 with coater to increase its efficiency and productivity... Heidelberg became the outright owner of label and packaging press secialist Gallus. Heidelberg bought a 30%stake in the company in 1999 and has now agreed a deal with Gallus owner Ferdinand Rüesch AG, which will swap its 70% stake in Gallus for new shares in Heidelberg... Communisis bought The Communications Agency, a London-based multi-channel agency, for £7.3m. “We’re creating an integrated agency as part of our Produce division and have been looking for acquisitions to fill in the gaps,” said Communisis chief executive Andy Blundell... Unsecured creditors of Service Point UK, which went into administration in April, were owed almost £40m and the company’s total deficiency was approaching £100m, according to documents published by administrator Ernst & Young... Hampton Printing invested in a five colour Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 75 with coater to handle the shorter runs required by some of its existing clients and to open up new opportunities... The Sun marked the start of the World Cup with a massive print campaign involving a special issue of the tabloid being delivered to almost every household in England – requiring a 22m print run... Pureprint set up a new sales office in Frome, Somerset, manned by a senior team from collapsed book printer Butler Tanner and Dennis to target growth in its colour book and corporate publishing print operation... Plastic packaging giant Coveris bought St Neots Packaging as part of a move to support its continued growth in cartonboard... Commercial printer Graphics and Print fell into administration following the loss of a major £1m contract, resulting in the loss of 39 jobs... 

160614-cover-smallCreative Graphics International was sold via an £11.3m buy-in management buy-out supported by a combined debt and equity package from Mobeus Equity Partners... HH Global was awarded a three-year HSBC print management contract for marketing and retail store signage for the Americas and Asia Pacific regions worth around £30m... Online trade printer Quinn’s Belfast invested in a four-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 75 with coater to reduce its makeready times and increase its throughput... Banner Managed Communication secured a multimillion-pound five-year deal with travel insurance specialist Allianz Global Assistance UK covering print management, multi-channel marketing communications, policy pack fulfilment and BMC’s Hybrid Mail office document service... The status of Global Media Production (Global MP) was unclear after a Notice of Intention to Appoint an Administrator was filed by Centric SPV1. Centric Commercial Finance had provided Global MP with a fresh round of financing just three months previously. Later in the month, Wyndeham owner Walstead Investments revealed that it hoped to rescue the business but withdrew the bid after being unable to complete our commercial review of the business...  Printing industry suppliers and colleagues paid tribute to publishing legend Felix Dennis, who died aged 67. He had been diagnosed with throat cancer in 2012... DS Smith doubled its pre-tax profits to £167m and reported a 10% rise in sales to £4bn in its full 2013/14 results... Leeds-based Resource rounded off a £3m investment in a relocation and upgrading its production facilities with the purchase of a five-colour SRA1 Ryobi 925 press... Portobello Press was forced to cease trading and fell into administration after a potential buyer pulled out at the last minute, resulting in the loss of 23 jobs... De Montfort University Leicester completed a £1m investment in its in-house Printing Centre in order to both boost its work for the university and target commercial work from external clients...