He was particularly interested in my view of what was going on among print suppliers. "Do you know," he said. "We’ve done some detailed analysis and the vast majority of our growth in profits has come from savings in production costs. Not from publishing innovation, or circulation growth, or better ad rates. It’s come from paying less for our printed magazines."

I gave a hollow laugh in response and said that I hoped his firm’s future publishing strategy wasn’t based on ever-decreasing production costs, because there’s only so far the pips can squeak.

As it turns out, this has been an incredibly long, drawn-out and painful squeak. But it seems we have reached the point where supply and demand achieve a better equilibrium. Market forces, in the end, will out – no matter how bonkers the sector. And web offset has been bonkers in the extreme. Dysfunctional, even. I can think of no other capital-intensive industry where suppliers do so much, for so little return.

Blame game
Is this all the fault of the buyers? Of course not. Buyers can only accept the prices that are put in front of them. Yes, they can push for cheaper prices and of course they will do, but the web offset industry, distorted by actions at the top, has been guilty of chasing volume over added-value and proper profits for far too long. 

It’s fascinating that the pivotal moves to consolidate the sector are now being made by a bunch of hard-nosed investors. Perhaps their brand of cool assessment is what has been needed all along. When Walstead bought Wyndeham one might reasonably have expected them to make a turn on the deal and a swift exit after just a few months. Things didn’t work out that way. Instead, they’ve become the ‘reluctant consolidators’ in the face of an industry where nobody else was willing, or able, to do the job.