April 27, 2001
Quebecor continues expansion of Nevada plant
MONTREAL - Quebecor World announced Wednesday that they are adding a fifth wide-web gravure press and ancillary support equipment to its Fernley, Nevada facility. This is the third expansion phase for the 410,000 sq. ft. plant since it opened in Sept. 1998. The facility serves several regional and national customers such as Sears, Office Depot, Circuit City and Walgreen's. The facility is expected to produce in excess of 2.4 billion finished products annually. Employment at the plant is expected to reach 250 after the press becomes operational Aug. 1.

Transcon acquires Quebec City printer
MONTREAL - Transcontinental Group announced yesterday it has acquired Imprimerie la Renaissance Inc. La Renaissance specializes in high-end printing of brochures, posters, pamphlets and annual reports. Transcon also acquired Compelec, la Renaissance's prepress subsidiary. Transcon plans to merge la Renaissance with its Litho-Acme Prescom division to form the largest printer in Quebec City. La Renaissance employs roughly 100 people and has annual revenues of $17 million. The projected annuals revenues of the merged company, Litho Acme-Renaissance, will be $30 million.

April 24, 2001
Caxton makes private placement offer
TORONTO - PrintCan has learned that Caxton Group Inc. is looking for investors for a private share offering. The company has sent investment summaries to potential investors to help raise funds for acquisitions and working capital. It is also in the process of being listed on the Canadian Venture Exchange by August, and will likely be listed on the TSE by the end of the year, according to COO Michael Hill. "Our focus is very much on growth," he said.

April 20, 2001
Study predicts magazine growth over next 10 years
NEW YORK - A new study forecasts magazine publishing to grow at least 4% by 2010. The study entitled Magazines in the 2000-2010 Era was conducted by New York-based Walker Communications on behalf of the Graphic Arts Marketing Information Service (GAMIS) and was released earlier this year. It predicts an increase in titles, while run lengths and page counts for each title are expected to decline. The study also forecasts more prepress functions moving into magazine production departments. It predicts a shift towards demographic editions will increase selective binding demand, but will also reduce the demand for perfect binding as page counts decline. GAMIS is part of the Printing Industries of America.

PrintNation shuts down
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. - Online printing products supplier PrintNation ceased operations April 11. The online site is no longer accepting orders, and offers only a brief thank you to "employees, manufacturers, suppliers, partners and customers who have supported our efforts for the last two years." No public statement has been issued and CEO Robert Locke refused to comment when asked by PrintCan about the demise of the site. PrintNation's core customer base was the small to medium-sized printer in the U.S.

April 17, 2001
Bringing graphic arts back to school
TORONTO - The graphic arts program at Danforth Tech secondary school may be brought back to life. The Danforth Tech Society charity has been lobbying for media exposure and backing from the Canadian Printing Industries Association. The charity has an art show fundraiser scheduled for May 10-11 at Danforth Tech, and hopes the event will help generate public interest for restarting the program. "I want the graphic arts industry to grab this thing by the throat and run with it," said Ron Adams, director of strategic planning for Danforth Tech Society. Danforth Tech's graphic arts program was shut down two years ago when the department head retired, and funding was redirected to other areas. Adams would like to revive the program because he believes there is a need for pressroom technicians. He also mentioned graphics arts programs such as those at George Brown and Ryerson are supportive. The CPIA has not officially endorsed reviving the program, but Adams expects it to be on the agenda for their June meeting.

PLM Group finalizes operations restructuring
MARKHAM, Ont. - PLM Group is in the final stages of a program designed to streamline its operations. The company is consolidating operations of three smaller plants into a new 140,000 sq.ft. facility in Markham, Ont. that will house direct marketing and distribution operations, along with corporate and administrative staff. The new facility is expected to be operational July 1. "We'll have tighter controls over what we do," said Barry Pike, chairman and CEO of PLM. PLM Group is a commercial printer, with both web and sheet-fed printing operations, and graphics and display services. It had sales of $92 million in 1999.

April 13, 2001
Que-Net launches remote image centre
CHICAGO - Que-Net Media launched the Remote Image Centre at Quebecor World's annual meeting last week. The mobile unit offers on-location photography and pre-media services in a customized 32-foot vehicle that travels directly to the client. It is equipped to provide regular and digital photography along with colour management, colour proofing and 3-D imaging. The Image Centre will initially be available only in the "Golden Horeshoe" area of southern Ontario, which includes Toronto. "Que-Net does a lot of on-location business. Increasing speed to market has become a huge issue with pre-media," said Mary Metzger, director of communications for Que-Net. She said the availability of the Image Centre to other markets will depend upon how it fares in southern Ontario.

U.S. investor acquires 44% of Communicorp
TORONTO - James Lewis, chairman of New York-based Geometry Group Inc., bought Communicorp Corp. shares owned by Eugene Karadjian and Donald Gill. Geometry Group is an investment management holding company, with approximately US$2 billion under management. The deal comes less than a month after Cenosis Inc.'s deal to acquire Communicorp fell through. "We weren't surprised by [the deal with Lewis]. [Geometry was always in the picture," said Richard Corbo, president and CEO of Cenosis. Communicorp specializes in pre-media services including digital imaging, Web design, marketing and promotional and printing capabilities. It had revenues of $18.7 million in 2000.

April 10, 2001
Glossy annual reports could face extinction
TORONTO - Several high-tech companies are scrapping glossy, expensive annual reports in favour of a simpler printed version with more company and financial data moving to their Web sites. Onex Corp. expects to eventually save up to $300,000 in printing and distribution costs by placing a greater emphasis on a Web-based format for its information. Nortel Networks made a similar move two years ago, and saved nearly $3.5 million in printing and distribution costs last year. This isn't necessarily bad news for printing companies. "Printing is strong as ever, especially on the high-end (annual reports, company brochures). It's just going to keep getting bigger and bigger," said George Kallas, president of Metropolitan Fine Printers, based in Vancouver. According to Kallas, 75% of Metropolitan's business is currently in high-end printing, such as annual reports. Its clients include West Coast Energy and B.C. Gas.

Datamark purchases Quebec printer
MONTREAL - Datamark Systems Group has acquired 100% equity of Les Impressions Intra-Media Inc. The Boucherville, Quebec-based printer specializes in prepress and high-end commercial printing, and has annual sales of approximately $19 million. Datamark purchased 70% equity in Intra Media in June, 1999. Datamark specializes in customized business forms, pressure sensitive labels, tags and commercial printing, and has annual sales of $110 million.

April 06, 2001
Canadian Bank Note Company strikes deal in Mali
OTTAWA - Canadian Bank Note Company has entered into an agreement with Mali to provide a holographic tax decal for every vehicle. All of the west-African nation's cars, trucks and other motorized vehicles will be required to display the decal. "We have been doing business in Mali for a while now. It was a need we identified," said Michael Southwell, senior vice-president of sales and marketing for Canadian Bank Note. The company also redesigned and printed new passports for Mali and has printed the country's sales tax stickers since 1998

Sears Canada cancels second Eatons catalogue
TORONTO - Sears Canada Inc. announced Tuesday it will not issue another Eatons catalogue. Sears cited poor sales and a misguided marketing strategy as reasons for the decision to cancel plans for a 100-page spring catalogue. St. Joseph Printing was one of several printers bidding to produce the catalogue. It printed the first Eatons catalogue since 1976, last October when Sears opened seven new Eatons stores. "The Eatons catalogue was important [to us] for symbolic reasons," said Tony Gagliano, CEO of St. Joseph. "We would've liked to [print] another one," he said.

April 03, 2001
CCL Industries hires new label division president
TORONTO - CCL Industries has hired Geoffrey Martin as president of its label division. He replaces Serge DePaoli who resigned earlier this month. Steve Lancaster, senior vice president and chief financial officer of CCL, said, "Serge was under some pressure to perform. The [financial] results [for 2000] were not up to the record-setting year of 1999. We're optimistic [the change] will have a positive effect on the company as a whole." CCL focuses on packaging solutions and product labeling for consumer brands, with annual revenues of $1.6 billion.

Heidelberg finalizes Kimoto Technologies purchase
MISSISSAUGA, Ont. - Heidelberg Canada completed its acquisition of Kimoto Technologies Canada, and its subsidiary Aldin Graphiques, on March 24. "We needed to have a presence in Quebec," said William Blair, Heidelberg Canada president. Quebec will represent between 18 to 25% of Heidelberg's business in Canada, he said. The purchase of Kimoto enables Heidelberg to expand its consumables offerings of ink, printing blankets and film. Heidelberg plans to keep all Aldin employees currently working at the company's offices in Montreal and Quebec City. It will retain roughly 20 staff from Kimoto. Kimoto has annual revenues of $38 million.