The terms of this merger, plans for which were first mooted publicly back in August, mean that AGI Shorewood in America is now owned 100 percent by Atlas, who also control 60 percent of the combined company outside of the US. The 40 percent remaining of the non-US interest is owned by International Paper. In the aftermath of the announcement, Adam Bursky, chairman of Atlas Holdings confirmed the major expansion plans the new company has:

“The merger provides AGO with expanded diversification, entrance to new growing end markets and significant positions in rapidly expanding regions like Asia and Latin America.”

This statement was further supported by the announcement, which was timed to meet with the conclusion of the merger, that AGI Shorewood would be seeking to invest approximately £4.5 million as part of the expansion of the company’s plant in China’s Guangzhou region. The company already has a worldwide workforce of close to 4,000 people across the 24 facilities it operates in Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia and the primary markets for its packaging products are the media and entertainment, consumer and tobacco sectors.

This successful expansion in the midst of a difficult economic climate for the printing industry as a whole, has been attributed to the demand for the company’s new services and products from existing markets, with the litho print services provided by Pureprint now offered together with a range of services including digital printing, fulfilment and storage, cross media and project management. Amongst the investments the company has now made to accommodate this increase in demand, is a brand new facility for fulfilment and storage, which will be available from January. This new space is situated adjacent to the company’s present business premises and will ensure a further 26,000 sq/ft of storage space, made up of 2,500 pallets bays, in addition to greatly increased facilities for mailing.

Pureprint chief executive, Mark Handford, said:

“At a time of economic difficulties, we are pleased with our latest results and feel it is important to keep reinvesting in the business to ensure we are fully equipped to service our client base in the best possible way.”

The company has also announced that it will be employing new staff in its customer service section.

Alltrade Printers, a family-owned specialist calendar and printer manufacturer, has based its success on a willingness to embrace time and cost-saving technological innovations. The most recent investment the company has made has been the B. Matic Protec Dual System, which was chosen following a trade show. The Protec is designed to cut costs for converting and printing businesses by providing one hundred percent accuracy in the counting and sorting of sheets, thus preventing the wastage associated with excess or undersupply. Peter Lilley, of Alltrade, said:

“Printers are being squeezed on prices, so streamlining processes to maximise efficiency and cut costs is vital and the B. Matic Protec ticks the box.

“We did look at other equipment but it wasn’t as flexible or as user-friendly as the Protec Counters, which can adapt to different materials at the touch of a button.”

For those companies operating with volumes in the medium to high range, the Protec represents the premium counter available. While the manufacturing is based in Italy, it is available in Britain from the supplier Advanced Dynamics Ltd.

The survey also showed that the vast majority of those small companies questioned expecting increased profits in 2012 were intending to re-invest that money in their businesses, with 89 percent stating that they intended to do this; specifically targeting areas that they felt could enhance their services.

There are a number of ways in which small businesses can raise the standards of their services through judicious investment, such as providing themselves with increased access to communication technologies, or hiring an established print franchise to ensure top quality printing standards.

Martin Stiven, the vice president in charge of business at Orange, stated:

“It is encouraging to see that despite a challenging climate, the UK’s SMEs are cautiously optimistic about the year ahead,” adding:

“While austerity will no doubt continue to be a buzz word next year, it is vital that businesses don’t stop investing in their companies.”

The survey conducted by Orange from mid November to the start of December, involved 483 small and medium sized businesses who utilise Orange services.

Oce has indicated that these latest models will be marketed to a wide variety of customers, with those involved in the expanding market for books printed digitally being one of the major target areas.

The decision to develop these latest Jetstream printers comes in the wake of the recent unveiling of the 1900 Jetstream, a duplex production printing system, and the executive vice president in charge of Oce’s production printing department, Sebastian Landesberger, stated that the latest additions to the company’s portfolio of Jetstream printers would enable Oce to boost their “vast install base” of toner machines within the book sector.

Landesberger then added:

“The new Oce Jetstream mono series is set to continue this success. It allows larger production runs of books such as straightforward trade books to produced at a competitive price. These kinds of jobs were until now the province of conventional printing.”

The modular system is being marketed by Oce towards a number of different clients – such as those seeking printing systems for direct mail collateral, transactional applications or short-run services such as newspapers. These latest Jetstream models are already available for order, but the delivery time is four to six months.

The brief for the brochure, which was designed by Save the Children’s own designer, required Abstract Group to turn the production over quickly, while still providing a print quality that would enable the document to be retained in the long term. All eleven copies of the brochure are bound in a case, which was produced digitally and the brochure itself has the Save the Children logo, de-bossed. The brochure’s front cover features foiled black gloss block in Skin Black 135 g/m2 – with 200 g/m2 Silver Digital Silk for the pages of text – while the Maltese cross outer case has 380 g/m2.

The company Curious Collection provides a mix of vibrant and matt colours coupled with a smooth finish, making their products perfect for those seeking dynamic-looking pages. The company’s products can be utilised with any of the major printing techniques, such as letterpress, silk screening, foil blocking and offset lithography. A spokesman for Abstract Group, Simon Breeze stated:

“We were looking for a tactile black stock for the cover of this prestigious piece that wouldn’t mark through our hand-bound, wet POB process. Traditional materials we had tried before had failed. Skin met our needs perfectly.”

However, the rules do not only apply to those areas directly surrounding the main Olympic Village, they will be applied to any of the other parts of the country – 27 in total – that are home to a venue hosting an event during the Olympics. These areas have been referred to by the committee as ‘event zones’, and local businesses that fall within them will be required to follow the regulations when it comes to promotional activity, such as flyer or banner printing.

The restrictions will be a disappointment for local businesses, struggling with the effects of the recession, who had been hoping to use the presence of the Olympics as a chance to lift sales and attract new customers. However the regulations were defended by the Olympics Committee, with a spokesperson stating:

“The regulations strike a good balance between allowing businesses near venues to trade as normal throughout the Games and what we term ambush marketing,”

before adding:

“Without our sponsors who invest huge sums of money, the Games simply wouldn’t happen and we want to protect their association with London 2012.”

The General Manager of OP Graphics, Alan Watson, stated that while printing digitally on fabric remained a lower quality overall solution than using dye-sub, it nonetheless offered an affordable printing solution for smaller companies, such as OPG, which allowed the company to offer a printed fabric service.

“It’s something we’re looking to at expanding more into because we recognise that that’s the way the industry seems to be going,”

Watson said, adding:

“On fabric we’ve really only been doing flags (so far) but we’re very confident that that side of the business is going to grow not just for OPG, but for the whole industry.”

Watson also confirmed that OP Graphics were planning to capitalise on the increased profit margins offered by fabric printing through the purchase of either a new Designjet printer or a second LX600 Scitex model, which would enable them to represent a one-stop option for indoor and outdoor graphics and vehicle wraps, for customers wishing for consistency across these printing services.

Parker’s career began with him working for AM Multigraphics, as a demonstrator, a position which saw him showcase innovative products such as the Multilith 1250 model single colour printing press. This in turn led to a switch to Itek Graphix Products, a company based in London, where he sold the company’s direct image platemakers and the Ryobi A3 print presses.

It was from here that he made the switch to Apex Digital, following the takeover of Itek by AB Dick, going on to become part of the company’s sales team – alongside Terry Bratt and Bob Usher. The company enjoyed tremendous success, expanding its operations after securing the UK and Ireland Ryobi contract.

Usher, who like Parker, went on to become a managing director of Apex Digital, stated:

“It has been a huge pleasure to work with Bernard and build a very well respected and successful business equipment to the printing industry. On behalf of our customers and the staff at Apex I would like to wish him a long and happy retirement.”

Parker has stated that he plans to use his retirement to enjoy a greater amount of family time and pursue interests outside of work.

Stones will see its capacity increased during December, with the installation of the new Heidelberg six-colour perfector, purchased from Pindar Preston, at the business’s plant in Banbury. Now, with Borton taking over the role of head of sales at BGP, Palmer – who is already the managing director of Stones – will be free to commit fully to that role.

Borton has been with BGP since August 2009, when he joined the company from Prinovis, where he held the position of UK sales head. Prior to this he had worked for Southernprint, as sales director, between 2004-2007. He has also held a prominent position with National Magazine Company – where he was in charge of group operations. In his new role at BGP, he will be required to report to Palmer and the company’s chief executive, David Holland. The latter stated:

“I am sure this appointment will contribute to the continued development and success of BGP,” before adding:

“This is the right time for this move; it will give Steve Palmer a bit more time, which is crucial with the additional capacity coming on line at Stones.”

In addition Borton has joined the BGP board of directors, as part of the promotion.