Online Provider Vistaprint Changes Name to Cimpress

VENLO, THE NETHERLANDS—The parent company of Vistaprint and other Web-to-print brands has changed its name to Cimpress N.V. The company plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars over the next five years in the development of proprietary software and production technology, in order to evolve its operational capabilities into a shared mass-customization platform (MCP). The Cimpress MCP will aggregate the production volumes of the Cimpress portfolio of brands.

Cimpress intends to make this technology investment to advance its proprietary computer-integrated manufacturing technologies, which enable the company to mass customize personalized and unique physical products in small quantities at what it feels is affordable prices.

“We have a two decade history during which we have started a major market transformation, yet the next 20 years promise to be even more exciting,” said Robert Keane, president and CEO, Cimpress. “Businesses and consumers are still too often forced to choose between the ease and flexibility of digital communications and a more enduring tangible connection with their audience. We are changing that. Our mass customization and computer-integrated manufacturing technologies empower customers to make real and tangible connections with the simplicity of personalization that people have come to expect from today’s digital world.”

Founded by Keane in January 1995, Cimpress and its subsidiaries serve the apparel, printing and photo merchandise industries. Cimpress currently employs over 400 software and manufacturing engineers and more than 5,300 team members across 16 countries.

The improvements to the Cimpress mass-customization platform will be founded on the company’s existing technologies and production operations. Every year since 1999, the company has invested at least 10 percent of its revenues into technology and development, including $176 million in its latest fiscal year. During the past decade, the company said it has invested more than $1.3 billion in technology, development and capital investments.

“Over the next five years, we anticipate directing a significant part of our technology and development budget in support of our platform strategy in order to build intrinsic value per share,” noted Ernst Teunissen, CFO, Cimpress. “This level of investment is consistent with the company’s previously issued financial guidance for fiscal year 2015 and its longer-term intent to continue to expand margins and free cash flow per share.”

The company said that changing the corporate name to Cimpress clarifies the distinction between the corporate entity and its technology/operational mass-customization platform and its portfolio of customer-facing brands. These include Web-to-print names such as Vistaprint, Drukwerkdeal, Albelli and Pixartprinting.

The stock ticker symbol for the parent company has changed to Nasdaq: CMPR.

The company also announced that it has named Don Nelson as COO for Cimpress. In this role, Nelson will be directly responsible for building and advancing the mass-customization platform and will oversee several corporate functions.

In support of the multi-year technology plans, Cimpress is actively increasing its recruiting activities at its main development centers in Lexington, MA, and Winterthur, Switzerland. This will expand its foundation of engineering and software development competence in the fields of graphics processing, mass customization and computer-integrated manufacturing.