With the festive countdown underway, printers were benefiting from the growing trend to produce Advent calendars for every taste – and budget. 2023 saw a high-profile new entrant with fashion magazine Vogue launching its first Beauty Advent Calendar, with a price tag of £350... The boss of a door-drop leafleting firm was handed a lengthy ban for abusing taxpayer-backed business support during the pandemic. Pape Djibril Diouf set up Diouf Door To Door Leafleting Ltd in September 2019... Two Leicester printers’ production sites burned to the ground. Printomedia and Print Promotions were both consumed in an early-morning blaze on 2 December. Muller Martini took over Hunkeler in a post-press mega-merger. The deal was confirmed on 6 December. Both manufacturers are family-owned. In a statement, they said that the merger was the result of careful consideration on all sides... Pantone described Pantone 13-1023 Peach Fuzz, its Colour of the Year for 2024, as “a velvety gentle peach whose all-embracing spirit enriches mind, body and soul”... Precision Proco Group restructured into two parts, with manufacturing now separate from its fast-growing tech operations... Employees at Works Manchester were sent home, with the future for the business unclear. A source close to the situation told Printweek that the factory was shuttered on the afternoon of 8 December, with all 90 staff laid off... Shares in Royal Mail’s parent group International Distributions Services jumped on the back of rumours that it could make a bid for Czech parcels firm Packeta... Print and mailing company FDM Document Solutions secured a four-year contract to deliver electoral materials for Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council worth £1.3m... Full-service event supplier Showlite was acquired by the managing directors of wide-format printer Ottimo Digital.