"Printgraphics is very similar to us, though they do a lot more high color work than we do, so they tend to play more in that commercial print space," explained Ennis marketing VP Steven Osterloh in an interview with PrintWeek. "But most of their business is business forms, integrated products, things like that - they're value added, so they're not just the transactional documents."

Osterloh said Printgraphics locations in Ohio and Iowa are geographically advantageous, but noted, "The purchase is more for the capabilities that we don't really have - what they bring to us is the amount of colors they can add to a product."

Printgraphics has been a leading wholesale manufacturer of fully integrated document solutions for more than three decades and is among the top 25 largest US companies in its segment.

In a statement announcing the acquisition, Printgraphics president Paul Curry said, "The acquisition of Printgraphics by Ennis will ensure the continued growth of the company into the future by allowing us to take advantage of their vast network of suppliers and economic strength. The Ennis business model will allow us to operate as an autonomous business unit."

Printgraphics has two locations, Vandalia, Ohio and Nevada, Iowa, both of which will continue producing their current products and services, the companies said in announcing the deal.

Ennis also has an apparel division that produces t-shirts - and does do some niche commercial printing of its own - but it remains at its heart a wholesale provider of checks and other traditional printed business forms.

Osterloh noted Ennis does have two commercial printing facilities of its own - in Colorado and Michigan - but those are focused on niche products. "One of them makes presentation folders so it's a finished product and the other makes POP displays, which is also a finished product," he explained, adding that only about 20% of the company's print side revenues - or about $40m - $45m - comes from what he would consider commercial printing, with the rest being more traditional forms, tags, labels and envelopes. "We do post cards and things like that but in that scenario we would not be doing the fulfillment of the direct mail," Osterloh added.

Ennis has has an acquisitive strategy for the past 12 years, purchasing a dozen or so companies, including a major apparel firm, which doubled the size of the company. But outside of the two niche printers, Osterloh said the company has stayed away from buying printing companies.

"We've had opportunities in the past to buy what I would consider commercial printers, but we've stayed away from that in part because we feel that commercial printing is bought regionally and also it doesn't ship as well as our product," he said. "We look at commercial printers as a channel for our products."

The Printgraphics acquisition comes only a week after Ennis reported that its consolidated net sales for the quarter ending August 31, had declined by 8.8% to US$130.4m, though much of that drop was due to weakness in its apparel division. Print sales for the quarter were stable at $69.2m, compared to $69.1m for the same quarter in 2010.