Compass Report--The State of M&A

We can track the profitability and growth of some of our largest public companies through their earnings reports and annual reports. However, these companies are highly diversified and serve a variety of markets with a variety of printed products.

The printing industry is not telling a good story. All this confusion among apples, oranges, pears and bananas renders many attempts to forecast print growth useless. One survey focuses primarily on sheetfed general commercial printers and purports a slowing of growth. Another polls print buyers who purchase products from only a handful of print segments and also predicts slower growth. Still another study—conducted by CAP Ventures—found that companies using the Internet for marketing are experiencing, on average, a 21 percent increase in their print volumes. This, the report concludes, is due to reaching more prospective customers and responding to Website inquiries with printed materials.