Icon rounded off the integration of McKenzie Clark by consolidating the two firm’s production facilities into one site in a £1.5m spend that included UK’s first Vutek HS100 Pro, EFI’s flagship 3.2m-wide flatbed and roll-fed UV press... Manroland Sheetfed announced that it would roll out "the next evolution" of its presses in 2015, with its owner predicting "something of a recovery" in press sales... The Communication Workers Union and Royal Mail agreed a “ground-breaking” deal on pay and terms including a three-year pay offer with a 3% pay rise for 2013/14 backdated to April 2013, followed by 3% and 2.8% pay rises in 2014 and 2015 respectively... Printers were among the many businesses battling against floods and freak weather conditions, with some companies counting themselves lucky to escape serious damage... The administrator of GPP Capital PLC, the parent company of Service Point UK, was hopeful of achieving a sale of the printing business by the spring. GPP fell into administration in October 2013 following problems at its own parent company, Spanish firm Service Point Solutions... The head of a packaging lobby group has gave evidence warning government that standardising tobacco packaging could increase the illicit tobacco trade in the UK. However, later in the month, the European Parliament formally approved changes to the Tobacco Products Directive paving the way for EU member states to independently introduce further amendments such as plain packaging... 

Swanline Print ordered its second HP Scitex FB10000 industrial flatbed press, part of a £1m investment, just eight months after installing the UK’s first such machine and subsequently achieving significant growth... Polestar boosted its contractual business in France with a new contract win from Groupe Marie Claire. The print group won three titles from the publisher in a two-year deal: monthly La Revue de Vin de France; bi-monthly Votre Beauté, and quarterly Mariages... Heidelberg’s Drupa-launched B2 Anicolor press completed its beta testing and entered series production, with Heidelberg “very confident” of quickly securing the first UK sales... UK food and healthcare packaging firm Benson Group was acquired by Graphic Packaging, 15 months after the US giant bought Contego Packaging’s UK and European food and drink carton operations... Prime Minister David Cameron officially opened wide-format kit manufacturer InkTec’s new UK and European demo and training centre in Oxfordshire and praised the Korean firm’s UK investment... Novalia founder Kate Stone, who was gored by a stag while holidaying in Scotland over Christmas, was well enough to leave hospital to convalesce at her sister's house in Dundee. She was hopeful of returning to work in two or three months... Global MP managing director Jim McKie has left the business. McKie had worked at the company (formerly St Ives Direct Bradford) for around two-and-a-half years and was understood to be taking up a senior position at York Mailing...