I confess to an unhealthy obsession with the web offset sector. Everyone needs a hobby. This fixation now dates back more than a decade to the formation of Polestar in 1998, and yes, I really do need to get out more.

The past six years or so, perhaps longer, have been like a sort of Groundhog Day of repeated expectation that the enormous losses/miniscule profits at so many of our web offset printers can't possibly continue and "something's got to happen". Lots of things have happened, of course, including the closure of more than 20 web printing sites since 2000. And the feeling of expectation that change is afoot among some of our newspaper group-owned web printers has now come to pass, with more expected. But there's always been a feeling that something bigger is just around the corner.

I wonder if the acquisition of Southernprint by Walstead, the owners of Wyndeham Group, marks the beginning of the web offset consolidation end game? Will it prove to be the tipping point that's been so widely predicted?

It's going to be fascinating to see how this newly enlarged entity pans out. I can't be the only person who finds it deeply ironic that related investment vehicle Cigala, which made £2.8m from the closure of Cooper Clegg, has now put £2m into the Poole purchase, the total value of which has not been disclosed, natch.

So what happens next? Will they keep all plants? How will they deal with inter-group resentment over differing T&Cs, given the recent painful pay cuts and job losses at Heron? Is Roy Kingston heading down the M3 as I type, ready to make the Southernprint workforce an offer they can't refuse? Will all Southernprint's senior management really stay on, considering the recent flattening of management structure carried out at Wyndeham? What will be the view of key suppliers, some of whom are still licking their wounds from the £6.7m shortfall at Cooper Clegg? How will customers react? Will this new £100m power player be able to mount a more compelling bid for IPC's up-for-grabs Southbank titles? Will they increase prices to publishers now they control more of the market? My head's spinning at all the potential ramifications.

Walstead's chairman Mark Scanlon says he believes "there will be more deals like this resulting in fewer but larger players in the web offset market". Perhaps they'll make John Madejski's day and buy BGP next? Answers on a postcard, please.