KBA acquired Italian flexo press manufacturer Flexotecnica for a "high single-digit million-euro" sum. Meanwhile, KBA UK managing director Christian Knapp resigned, leaving the company in the summer… Creative Print Group was bought in a pre-pack deal by a new company set up by John Price Printersafter… Kodak was preparing to exit Chapter 11 status… Demand from new and existing exhibitors at Fespa Eurasia prompted organisers to increase floor space by a third to 21,000sqm… Pureprint ordered a second HP Indigo 10000 B2 digital press despite the fact that its first had yet to complete beta testing… Synergie Group was placed into administration following the failure of its Company Voluntary Arrangement... St Ives bought digital marketing agency Amaze in a deal worth up to £25m. The group’s share price also hit a 52-week high… Telegraph Media Group was planning to cut around 80 "mostly print-based" editorial roles as part of a restructure that included an £8m investment in digital products… The Serious Fraud Office began investigating HP-owned Cambridge-based software business Autonomy after HP discovered “serious accounting improprieties” after the acquisition… John Lewis and Debenhams were the latest retailers to be charged with demanding supplier discounts… A Communication Workers Union ballot of Royal Mail members secured a ‘yes’ vote for a potential boycott of downstream access providers’ mail… Arjowiggins Fine Papers was fined after a member of staff was seriously injured at the paper merchant's Aberdeen-based Stoneywood Paper Mill in an incident that took place in 2010…

Canon, Duplo and Impika were the latest firms to pull out of Ipex 2014. Show organiser Informa Exhibitions later wrote an open letter to all Ipex stakeholders clarifying its position regarding Ipex 2014… AGI-Shorewood Group confirmed it was to close its Swindon site by the end of March, transferring work to the global packaging firm's Slough facility... The BPIF marked National Apprenticeship Week (11-15 March) by treating a group of industry apprentices to a flight over London on the capital's iconic 'Eye'… Creative and packaging management firm Magnet Harlequin acquired pre-press specialists Technik for an unspecified sum… Johnston Press' contract printing revenues were slashed by a third following the termination of News International's contract, according to its 2012 financial reports… The Institute of Packaging Professionals announced it was to set up a masters degree for the packaging industry in partnership with Leeds Metropolitan University… Chancellor George Osborne cut employers National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and Corporation Tax in a Budget that was otherwise short of good news for businesses… A firm called Mambo Direct was set up at the same registered office as collapsed Alito Color Group… Garnett Dickinson restructured its board and sold its Acorn Web Offset business… Two Sides claimed victory as Google abandoned its Go Paperless in 2013 campaign… HMRC extended by six months the deadline by which small businesses had to sign up for PAYE Real Time reporting… Johnsons of Nantwich rounded off a £1.2m operational overhaul with a Horizon booklet production line… Packaging giant Smurfit Kappa UK pleaded guilty to health and safety regulation breaches after an employee severed his fingers at its Whitehaven factory...