Crown Van Gelder’s new lead investor was revealed as California-based EPAC Technologies, which specialises in supply chain management and printing logistics... The UK print industry bathed in the reflected glory of the best the sector had to offer as the 2023 Printweek Award winners were unveiled at a glittering ceremony at London’s iconic Brewery. More than 600 guests attended the Awards dinner, which was hosted by award-winning comedian Russell Kane. Belfast-based Northside Graphics secured the ultimate accolade, taking home the trophy for Company of the Year... EProductivity Software (ePS) acquired UK-based MIS developer Tharstern Group. EPS said the deal would further solidify its position in the small and midsized print segment while driving geographical and technological diversification... Strike action by thousands of stevedores at Finnish ports, which it was warned could impact the paper and pulp industry, reached a faster than expected resolution... Propack launched its own online sustainable greetings cards retail business, Planet Bee Cards... Irish packaging group Zeus opened a new 6,500sqm logistics facility in Watergrasshill, Cork... Macfarlane Group acquired specialist protective packaging manufacturing business AE Sutton, which trades as Suttons Performance Packaging... Royal Mail announced an inflation-busting near-16% increase in the price of First Class stamps, which would breach the £1 mark for the first time, “to ensure the one-price-goes-anywhere Universal Service remains sustainable”... The future for Manchester Printers Group was unclear after the former owner of one of its string of acquisitions was forced to buy his business back out of administration... Smurfit Kappa completed the disposal of its Russian operations after a process that has taken just under a year in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine... Royal Mail bosses had another problem on their plates, after MPs referred the business to Ofcom over its “systematic failure” to meet parts of the Universal Service Obligation... National World revealed that it had accelerated the implementation of its new ‘digital-only’ operating model to restore sustainable growth, but said printed newspapers are still part of its plan... Long-established Southampton forms and custom stationery supplier Snows Business Forms went into administration... A vending machine containing an array of books published by Penguin Books was installed at Exeter St Davids train station... APS Group invested £5m into its 9,290sqm secure inbound/outbound Preston Brook facility near Runcorn, following significant wins in the financial and government sectors... Offset Print & Packaging began the installation of the first-of-its-kind Koenig & Bauer Rapida 145, following the completion of extensive preparatory works (See Me & My, p54)... Business forms specialist Easyforms acquired the assets and sales book of KP Paper Convertors, one of the few remaining manufacturers of computer listing paper in the world... A family of West Midlands-based entrepreneurs took over the Birmingham franchise of wide-format chain Fastsigns. Tom Gilpin with his father Nigel, an accountant, and brother Jack, marketer, took over the business.