November 30, 2001
Niagara Trade Business Forms auction date set
TORONTO— Liquidator Danbury International will auction off the remaining assets of Niagara Trade Business Forms in Niagara Falls, Ont. on Tues. Dec. 4, beginning at 11 a.m. A preview will take place on Mon. Dec. 3 at the same location from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Niagara closed its doors last month after operating for less than a year. Among the items available are two six-colour presses, one five-colour and a two-colour. Prepress, bindery and office equipment are also available. For a complete list of available equipment and directions visit www.danburysales.com or call (416) 630-5241.

Digital IMS delivers message to Toronto-area printers
TORONTO— Printers from across greater Toronto descended on the Marriott Hotel in the city's west end on Wednesday night hoping to learn how to help build successful Web sites from Digital IMS. Based in Lincoln, Neb., Digital IMS (Integrated Marketing Solutions) develops industry-specific business-to-business sites to improve customer service and drive sales. Speaker Jay Wilkinson's 90-minute seminar touched on the do's and don'ts of building a Web-site, and demonstrated how a Digital IMS-designed site would work. Company representatives were also on hand to answer questions and to schedule one-to-one meetings with interested parties.

November 27, 2001
Alliance opens its doors
TORONTO— Rising from the ashes of St. Laurent Trade Litho, Alliance Trade Litho opened for business at the end of October. Specializing in the commercial packaging business, Alliance is in the same east-Toronto location as the old shop, uses the same 43" six-colour Man Roland press and employs three former St. Laurent staff including general manager Jeff Mayne. St. Laurent closed last June, and Mayne was approached in August by new ownership to run newly minted Alliance. After 17 years in the trade he welcomes the challenge. "What I really love doing is being around the hardware. I love being in the trenches. No two days are the same," he says.

Tri-City buys U.S. bindery
MISSISSAUGA, Ont.— Tri-City Graphic Finishers expanded its reach recently with the purchase of Southwestern Trade Bindery based in Dallas, Tex. Southwestern is a 35-year-old firm that was family owned. Tri-City is a trade bindery specializing in many aspects of finishing including perfect binding, high-speed collating, shrinkwrapping and polybagging. Watch PrinCan for further updates on this story as information becomes available.

November 23, 2001
Leading Graphics floats payment plan to creditors
MARKHAM, Ont.— PrintCan has learned via industry sources that 31 year-old prepress firm Leading Graphics sent a letter recently to creditors seeking approval for a revised payment arrangement for all debts incurred prior to Nov.1, 2001. The plan, which requires 90% creditor support, would allow Leading to pay 25 cents for every dollar owed on older debts by Jan. 1, 2002. Debts incurred on or after Nov.1 would be paid in full within 60 days. The letter asked for a response by no later than Friday Nov.16. A spokesperson for Leading said yesterday that debt restructuring is vital to its survival, but did not provide any deadlines for implementing alternate payment plans. Leading has confirmed that some salespeople have left as a result of growing uncertainty about the company's future, but approximately 40 staff remain.

Quebecor signs directory contract in Argentina
BUENOS AIRES, Arg. and MONTREAL— Quebecor World locked up Telephone Argentina's directory printing contract for five years on Wednesday. The deal covers directories for all of Argentina's major cities, a market of approximately 37 million people. The majority of the 4 million directories is to be printed annually for Telephone Argentina at Quebecor's Buenos Aires suburban plant located in Pilar. Along with getting the deal, the plant will also receive new prepress equipment, as well as press and bindery units from existing North American plants. Financial terms for the deal were not disclosed.

November 20, 2001
Major Graphics closes its doors
TORONTO— PrintCan has learned Toronto-based Major Graphics has filed for bankruptcy. Bankruptcy trustee Schonfeld Inc. has sent notices to all concerned debtors and creditors. "They had some losses among their customers, which can be hard to overcome," says Harlan Schonfeld of Schonfeld Inc. A creditors meeting at the Toronto Office of the Superintendant of Bankruptcy has been scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 28. Schonfeld says there will not be an asset sale, because there is "nothing of any value" remaining.

CreoScitex to re-brand itself
VANCOUVER— Beginning in January, CreoScitex will cease to exist. Creo Products Inc. announced yesterday its intention to consolidate all of its business units under the singular Creo name. CreoScitex is the current name for the company's graphic arts division, and has been used since Creo absorbed the prepress division of Scitex Corporation in early 2000. A new logo reflecting the change will be introduced and approved at the next annual general meeting. Creo says the decision was based on streamlining its businesses. "Uniting all worldwide activities under the Creo brand will clarify the structure of our operations and eliminate any confusion with other brand names," says CEO Amos Michelson. Creo also reported fourth quarter earnings of US$143.2 million yesterday, down from US$173.3 million in Q4 2000. Total revenues increased by 45%, however, to US$656.5 million over US$453.3 million in 2000.

November 16, 2001
Johnstone creditor vote close call
MARKHAM, Ont.— According to a creditor requesting anonymity, the debt restructuring plan at Johnstone-Adams Graphics passed by only a single vote. In attendance at the meeting held last week, the creditor says that the deal will allow Johnstone to continue to operate while it pays 25 cents for every dollar owed over the course of the next 40 months. PrintCan has also learned at least two paper merchants who voted against the agreement are no longer selling to Johnstone.

Magna eyes expansion possibilities
VANCOUVER— Consolidated Magna Ventures Inc. could be in the market to acquire additional prepress firms in other parts of North America, according to president Robert Archer. Magna entered into an agreement to purchase eleven-year old, Burnaby, B.C.-based Copydot Prepress Inc. last September and the deal is expected to be finalized once regulatory approval is granted. "It's a possibility. It's something that we're considering. It's just one business model that we're looking at, but it's really going to depend on how we decide to market Skinny Script," he says, referring to Magna's file-encoding and converting program used in magazine production.

November 13, 2001
Johnstone-Adams' restructuring plan approved
MARKHAM, Ont.— Johnstone-Adams Graphics received some much needed good news from its creditors late last week when they voted in favour of the printer's debt restructuring plan. The vote did not pass unanimously as six creditors, including several paper merchants, voted against it. The proposal passed based on an overall majority of yes votes. Johnstone has spent the last several months cleaning up its finances, and getting the green light from its creditors was a huge victory says president Zigmund Koslowski. A commercial sheetfed printer, Johnstone-Adams has annual sales of approximately $6 million.

Ryerson breaks ground on $10 million graphic arts building
TORONTO— Ryerson University has offically begun work on a three-storey, 30,000 sq. ft. graphic arts facility yesterday that will house 360 full-time students enrolled in its graphic communications management program. Located on the main campus in downtown Toronto, the Centre for Graphic Communications Management will feature press and prepress areas, three pre-media labs, a 135-seat lecture theatre and faculty offices. Construction is scheduled to be completed next summer according to Ryerson officials.

November 08, 2001
Lowe-Martin first in line to get new Heidelberg press
OTTAWA, Ont.— Lowe-Martin Group recently bought Heidelberg's new Nexpress 2100 and will be installing it in its Mississauga, Ont plant next January, says president Ward Griffin. The Ottawa-based commercial printer was the first in Canada to buy the Nexpress, which is a product of a joint venture between Kodak and Heidelberg. Using toner-based technology, the Nexpress is capable of near-offset quality output. "We see it serving key areas, one being the short-run colour market," Griffin says.

Team Online and Image Plus complete merger, change name
TORONTO— After reaching a merger agreement last June, Team Online Communications and Image Plus Graphics recently completed integrating their operations under a new name, TeamImage Inc. President Dave Smith says the united company," expects to complete additional acquisitions as the industry consolidates." TeamImage is a full-service pre-media and commercial print operation with annual sales of approximately $16 million.

November 06, 2001
St. Joseph to print revamped Saturday Night
CONCORD, Ont.— St. Joseph Corp. will print Multi-Vision Publishing's newly acquired Saturday Night at its Concord, Ont. plant, when the 114-year-old magazine is relaunched as a bi-monthly in late spring, 2002. Multi-Vision, the publishing division of St.Joseph, acquired the assets of Saturday Night last week. "It's not as big as it was—being 48 times a year prior—but at least we're starting with six times a year and it's a nice print contract," says St. Joseph Print Group president John Gagliano.

Annex expands coldset plant
TILLSONBURG, Ont.— Annex Publishing and Printing Inc. recently added 6,000 sq. ft. to its coldset web plant in Tillsonburg, Ont. "It's mostly to service our present customer base requirements for colour," says Earl Bateman, vice-president of printing, referring to the expansion. The facility prints newspapers, phone book directories and advertising inserts.

November 02, 2001
Arthurs-Jones presses sold
MISSISSAUGA, Ont.— The recent Arthurs-Jones auction gave the industry an opportunity to take advantage of some real bargains. Although show organizer Century Services would not provide details about which items were sold, PrintCan has learned that two 40" six-colour Heidelberg presses have new homes. Markham, Ont.-based PLM Group bought one, while Quality Offset Printing of Mississauga, Ont., bought another. Both PLM and Quality told PrintCan that they bought the presses for less than their ideal market value, but wouldn't provide the specific purchase price. PLM president Barry Pike said that the 40" eight-colour Heidelberg press sold but the tentative deal with a buyer fell through.

Clues scarce in murder case at Moore as losses and cuts continue
STAMFORD, CT.— With speculation about the murder of its chairman Theodore Ammon in full swing, beleaguered forms and labels printer Moore Corp. announced it will eliminate an additional 1,000 jobs worldwide in 2002, after it posted a US$12 million loss in the third quarter. The company has already cut 2,700 jobs since Robert Burton was installed as president and CEO last December. "We still have too many employees here," Burton said in a conference call last week. Meanwhile, the ongoing investigation into Ammon's death has yet to turn up any motives or suspects according to Suffolk County Police of Long Island, N.Y.