Bezier chief executive Brian Dudley said: "It justifies our decisions. It's extremely satisfying to present a clean set of accounts that don't include discontinued operations." He said that he believed the increase in top line and margins could be improved in the coming year.
"The restructuring was painful at the time, particularly for the people concerned. But our primary strategy was to become a major supplier of PoP [point-of-purchase] materials for major retailers," said Dudley.
In June 2000, the group said it would close its £30m-turnover Burgess subsidiary with the loss of 195 jobs as it migrated away from the greetings card sector. Later that year it sold its labels business to Paragon Labels.
Dudley said he believed that Bezier's former markets were still burdened by overcapacity. "There's a trend for there to be fewer suppliers providing more services Ð people want value for money. That's what we are now doing, providing a full service of which print is just a part," said Dudley.
The group has recently won some big PoP retail contracts, which included becoming the sole supplier of PoP materials for Homebase. This includes the design, production, distribution and compliance services.
The group's operations include Bezier Corporate Print in Poole, and POP in Bristol and Wakefield.
Story by John Davies
