LARGE-FORMAT DIGITAL PRINTER
David Danforth, CEO, imageData Group
"It's too soon to tell. We do retail stuff, so decisions have to be made for Christmas. We're still waiting to see how the government spending cuts will hit in the coming months. However, business is stronger now because we have done a lot of cost cutting and are now at the right level. Although I'm worried interest rates may go up, I'm more confident right now. We have spent big on two CTP systems and an Indigo, and August has been good. But in the current climate you can't help asking yourself 'what will it be like next week?'

COMMERCIAL PRINTER
Neil Long, managing director, Longridge Print
"It’s not the most amazing year – or half-year – we’ve ever had, but we are 30% up on 12 months ago thanks to new Heidelberg plates and a Speedmaster 74 press that’s really made us more competitive. August is always a slow month for us, plus prices are rock bottom and more people are going bust, which will affect businesses. But in some areas, like recent changes in government policies, it’s hard to see what the effects will be as the year goes on because we are so far away from the front line.

DIGITAL PRINTER
Paul Manning, sales director, Printflow
I think it’s fair to say that the industry is fairly dependent on the September-to-November upturn. We’ve had a record year and the summer has been above average, but like most, we’re looking forward to higher turnover through the post-summer period. We are predicting higher sales than last year and all the signs are that we should have an excellent end to 2010.Paper rises might affect profits slightly, but our exposure to that is relatively low as our digital side, especially in colour work, traditionally uses less paper versus revenue than litho.

DISPLAY PRINTER
Tim Hill, managing director, Speedscreen
Our year-end is 31 July and the figures for 2009/10 show a year-on-year increase of 25.5% in turnover and a stronger net profit, despite pressure on margins generally. This we put down to a big increase in digital production as a direct result of investment in new technology 12 months ago. As a result, our volume of digital work has overtaken screen print for the first time. Our philosophy has been to invest now while others are more hesitant and I think we have shown this has paid off. We are confident that our mix of services will continue to grow and to this end we increased our factory space in June for another investment phase this year in large-format UV digital equipment.