High on the company's agenda at the moment is diversification; P&C has targeted the digital and wide-format markets, and managing director Ian Collinson has also just set up book publishing company Weathervane Press.

The decision to go into publishing was the result of an increase in demand for short-run self-published work - Collinson is currently in talks with five local authors.

However, while diversification has opened up new opportunities, conditions are tough enough for P&C to cut production hours. "Since October last year we have been operating a four-day week," says Collinson. "This is the first time we have had to do this and the decision was purely a reaction to the recession, hopefully it will be relatively short term."

Nottingham-based P&C was founded in 1919 by Collinson's grandfather on his return from the First World War. When he retired in the 1950s, his son, Collinson's father, took over. Collinson himself started working for the company in 1980 and took the reins in 1999.

For the first few decades, the city's busy textile industry, including its famous lace producers, provided much of P&C's work. However, with the decline of this market the company established footholds in a number of other sectors, including academic and legal documents, and of course the diversification into book printing. That aside, there are two main areas to the business: commercial print and stationery, with commercial print responsible for 60% of its sales.

Changing times are also leading to a change in the kind of kit P&C is operating and Collinson intends to install new equipment over the course of 2010. "We have reached the stage where none of our new investments will be in litho. When we invest it will most certainly be in digital kit because of the amount of short-run work we are doing," he says. "However, it will be a big step up to have a faster machine. It will also enable us to do far more personalised work."

Paperback writer
Collinson kicked off the book publishing process after printing his own novel I Love Samuel Taylor, which will shortly be also available as an e-book. It was printed on a full-colour Xerox DC240, which Collinson admits is the most basic industry standard model, but it has proved to be a perfect stepping stone into digital. The next step will be a faster version of the 240, which is no longer made, with a better RIP to enable personalised printing. "We would almost certainly stay with Xerox after this initial experience which is entirely positive," he adds.

Collinson says the decision to go into the book market was an easy one. He has put his own money into the publishing business, and says it was quite a low investment. "Or at least, it's not a heavy investment so far, and I don't see it as a huge risk. It is a market that potentially will be sustained when commercial printing is declining, and we have worked very hard with this market."

P&C is also producing e-books, which gives the business a way into the US market. "It does have a lot of potential and  by broadening the market, hopefully we will also see an increase in printing," says Collinson. He believes that this is a way for printers to work with the internet and other electronic media and adds that in fact, it could help print in the short-term. The Weathervane Press website has a free PDF and a free audio version of chapter one of his book. "This is an accessible way of enabling people to sample these alternative media as well as getting a taste of the story," he says.

"Amazon, which has been offering the ‘look inside' concept for a while now, says this facility significantly increases online sales of printed books. So the new media can actually help to make a sale for the printed version, it doesn't necessarily replace it," Collinson says.

However, he adds that in the future, rapid growth is likely to be in electronic versions as acceptance grows and devices on which they can be read become cheaper and more widely available. "Ultimately, people will come to accept the reading experience on iPhone- and Blackberry-type products. The younger generations will adapt to e-books early, but I think paperbacks will survive and there is room here for one to help promote the other."

The company is also looking to expand into wide-format print. "There is growth there and we will potentially be diversifying into wide-format in the next year or so, simply due to customer demand," he adds.

More generally, he says the market is "very tough" at the moment. "Some people are slow at paying, but we have a loyal customer base," he says. He predicts the rest of 2009 will be the same as the first half, but does think the market has bottomed out. "I do believe that in times of recession, the printing industry is the first in and first out," he says. With all that experience under the company's belt, and the fast approach of its 90th year, you may be inclined to believe him.

P&C FACTFILE

Staff 12
Turnover £500,000
Managing director Ian Collinson
Location Nottingham
Markets Stationery, business forms, leaflets, brochures and annual reports
Founded 1919