Agfa Graphics to Close Analogue Printing Plate Factory in Manerbio, Italy

MORTSEL, BELGIUM—July 9, 2013—Agfa Graphics announced today that it plans to close down its printing plate factory in Manerbio, Italy.

The Manerbio plant produces analogue offset plates and negative CtCP plates, both product lines for which market demand is in decline.

“This decision is part of our strategy to improve our operational efficiency, margins and competitive position in the highly competitive prepress market,” said Stefaan Vanhooren, president of Agfa Graphics.

After having considered all options, Agfa Graphics has now informed Manerbio's employees, as well as the trade unions that it intends to close down the factory impacting 123 employee positions. A redundancy plan will be developed for the employees that currently work in Manerbio.

About Agfa
The Agfa-Gevaert Group is one of the world's leading companies in imaging and information technology. Agfa develops, manufactures and markets analogue and digital systems for the printing industry (Agfa Graphics), for the healthcare sector (Agfa HealthCare), and for specific industrial applications (Agfa SpecialtyProducts). Agfa is headquartered in Mortsel, Belgium. The company is present in 40 countries and has agents in another 100 countries around the globe. The Agfa-Gevaert Group achieved a turnover of 3,091 million Euro in 2012.

About Agfa Graphics
Agfa Graphics offers integrated prepress solutions to the printing industry. These solutions comprise consumables, hardware, software and services for production workflow, project and color management.

Agfa Graphics is a worldwide leader with its computer-to-film, computer-to-plate and digital proofing systems for commercial and packaging printing and the newspaper publishing markets.

Agfa Graphics is rapidly developing its position in the new segments of industrial inkjet with comprehensive solutions for various applications such as documents, posters, banners, signage, displays, labels and packaging materials. Its experience in both imaging and emulsion technology has provided the expertise required for developing a complete assortment of high-quality inks.

Source: Agfa.