Already this year, we have had closures, administrations, pre-packs and buyouts, alongside major investments.

The various movements in the industry have meant more of you than ever have convened in the printweek.com forums to have your say and discuss issues and happenings, whether it be general topics such as pre-packs and government legislation, or individuals, company results and job losses.

The printweek.com forums have become a vital place for information and are providing an ideal platform for everyone from the top office to the factory floors to have their say.

In response to this, this month we have launched two more specialist forums – Digital and Paper – to go alongside our existing Pre-media Forum in the Community section of printweek.com, giving web users a place to ask questions and discuss topics and issues from their field.

The printweek.com Q&A section has also become a hotbed of conversation, with users sharing specialist knowledge and contacts.

As ever, the PrintWeek team strives to bring you accurate and up-to-date news as it happens, along with in-depth coverage of the biggest stories and names in the business. Thanks for tuning in – keep abreast of the latest developments and industry movements in February.


Top five most read stories:

1.    Lamination specialist Celloglas dominated much of the news and forums this month, with its fall into administration and subsequent sale of five sites, being the first and fourth most read stories in January. The company called in administrators on 5 January, however five existing sites were bought out of administration in a pre-pack deal (two in Leeds, Hunslet and Seacroft, along with Reading, Birmingham and Leicester) by new company Newcelloco. Since then, PrintWeek has reported on news that Celloglas's London (Acton), Birmingham and Gloucester facilities have been closed by administrator MCR with 42 staff being made redundant. A buyer for the remaining sites in Bristol, Sevenoaks, Manchester and Dorset is still being sought

2.    Despite some reported interest from buyers, the sale of Cooper Clegg was eventually abandoned, seeing the company close with the loss of 90 jobs. Its closure was precipitated by the loss of a major contract with Bauer.

3.    Trowbridge, Wiltshire-based academic book and journal printer Cromwell Press fell into administration this month, with 40 job losses, blaming a "large bad debt".

4.    The impact of print closures has obviously had a knock-on effect on buyers and in this, the fourth most read article in January, we reported on how some buyers were being forced to take drastic actions to prevent "committing professional suicide". This sparked a great debate on the issues facing buyers and printers in the printweek.com forum

5.    As announced in a PrintWeek Breaking News Bulletin, St Ives' long-serving chief executive Brian Edwards revealed he was to step down in August this year to be succeeded by current MD for the UK, Patrick Martell. This news was part of a bigger shake-up at the group, which saw sales director Simon Ward announce he was to leave also, in March.

Comments

January has seen many new users sign up to printweek.com, meaning the forums have been absolutely bustling with debate and comments. The following are some of the things that got people talking...

"More stuff and bluster from Unite  – last week it teamed up with the BPIF to criticise and blame the banks for all of our woes, now it is slamming the government. As much as Unite is entitled to have a pop at anybody it sees fit (behind the farcical rhetoric it has some fair points to make), it makes me angry that the same faces seem to appear whenever there is a crisis, mouthing absurdities as if they had gone out of fashion."
Charles Litton discusses Unite's verbal attack on the government over the current state of the economy

"It's really unfortunate that more people have lost their jobs and the future according to the statement looks bleak for those that remain… my sympathies go out to the employees of Cooper Clegg. While in our ownership, they went through a great deal of changes, and throughout they remained positive. Good luck to you."
Andrew Dalton of Pindar on the closure of Cooper Clegg

"This is a great shame – I used to work for Cambridge University Press (CUP) some 15 years ago for the bindery division. At the time it was located in south London. I left with the Managing Director's (Trevor Dunkley) words ringing in my ears that 'CUP has never made anyone redundant'. How times have changed."
Gary Seymour on the announcement of 130 jobs being cut at Cambridge University Press

"Cheap deals on print? Reality is at any given moment ask five printers with similar equipment to quote on same specification and you end up with totally different prices. Oversupply has been a phenomenon in this industry since the introduction of moveable type put monks copying service out of business. There is no prospect of that changing in the near future, so what are the alternatives turn work away and stand machines?"
Kevin Dixon speaks out after Team Impressions MD criticised 'unjustified' pricing in local litho market

"It's become a spiral which is tough to break. We have the administration stocks which should be highlighted to clients to protect from reprint increase. Would think there is an increase in suicide pricing coming from last gasp business looking to pay wages, or looking to recover overhead and material and little else. We are all stuck in a no man's land, with the amount of businesses already gone, capacity balance is still as far away as clients cut spends or die themselves."
Jon Fennell on a recent BPIF survey revealing that printers were being forced to cut prices despite rising costs