Quebecor World

MONTREAL—Pierre Karl Peladeau, who helped spearhead the acquisition of World Color, has been named president and CEO of Quebecor World. He replaces Jean Neveu, who served the dual roles in an interim basis since March 2003. Peladeau has served a number of roles with the company, including COO of Quebecor Printing. In other company news, TRC Capital offered to purchase up to three million Quebecor World subordinate voting shares, representing about 3.5 percent of all outstanding subordinate shares, at a price of C$25.25 each. In response, Quebecor World recommended that shareholders reject the offer, which was 3.8 percent lower than its closing price on February 25,

Dallas Printers Agree to Merge DALLAS—Impression Graphics and Ussery Printing have agreed to merge, with the company operating under the name of Ussery Printing. The combined companies have 76 employees and roughly $11.7 million in annual sales. The company will be able to produce small- and large-format printing. Quad/Graphics Signs Extension SUSSEX, WI—Quad/Graphics will become the exclusive printer for U.S. News & World Report in January 2005 after the two parties reached an accord on a contract extension. Quad will print 2.2 million weekly copies of the publication for distribution throughout the United States. The work will be produced entirely at Quad facilities in Saratoga Springs, NY,

arizona PHOENIX—AIRO Graphics is now operating a six-color Komori Lithrone 40 perfector. TEMPE—A Prime UV four-lamp UV curing system has been installed as a retrofit on a five-unit Harris M-110 perfector web press to cure wet trap UV ink on commercial printing at ValleyWide Printing Services. california BURBANK—LAgraphico, a full-service premedia and printing company that serves the film industry, recently installed a new Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 74 sheetfed press to produce promotional collateral to support feature films such as "Peter Pan," "Seabiscuit" and "Cheaper by the Dozen." On February 20, LAgraphico celebrated its 25th anniversary with an open house event at its new 78,000-square-foot

Tanagraphics, Seybert Merge NEW YORK CITY—Tanagraphics Inc. and Seybert Nicholas Printing Group have signed a definitive merger agreement to form what they claim to be the largest privately held company providing print management solutions in the Big Apple. The new company will be called TanaSeybert and will offer commercial and digital printing, advertising prepress services, bindery and mailing services. TanaSeybert will also offer a full range of integrated Web- and browser-based services. Harris DeWese, chairman of Compass Capital Partners, served as financial advisor for the transaction. Baldwin, technotrans Deal Nixed SHELTON, CT—Baldwin Technology has notified technotrans AG that it will no longer pursue the transaction announced in

STONE MOUNTAIN, GA—Atlanta Web Printers has opened its second facility, located in Tucker, GA. Along with the physical expansion of its facilities, the publication printer has also restructured the management team. Jerry Williamson, CEO of Williamson Printing, Dallas, has been named the Graphic Arts Leaders of the Americas (GALA) North American award recipient for 2004 by the Printing Association of Florida. He received his award before hundreds of industry leaders and guests at the 21st annual GALA awards banquet during Graphics of the America 2004 in Miami Beach. F.E. Treis, Arandell Corp. chairman, was recently honored for 60 years of leadership at the

MONTREAL—For 10 veteran employees at the Quebecor World facility here, life has taken a turn for the awesome. The group struck it rich on Jan. 9 by hitting the winning numbers in the Super 7 Lotto. They will share a pot of C$17.5 million. All of the employees have been with Quebecor World Montreal at least 20 years, with the average worker making $15 an hour. Now, their financials have enjoyed an uptick. The elder statesman of the group, 65-year-old Roger Malo, finally will retire, purchase a new home, car and computer, then bestow cash gifts of $125,000 to his son and daughter, according to the Journal

FedEx Buys Kinko's Franchise MEMPHIS, TN—FedEx Corp. and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) have announced an agreement for FedEx to acquire Kinko's for $2.4 billion in cash. Kinko's operates approximately 1,200 stores worldwide, generating annual sales of about $2 billion. Funds managed by CD&R, a private equity investment firm, currently owns about 75 percent of Kinko's outstanding shares. Once the transaction is completed, all Kinko's locations will offer new or expanded FedEx shipping options to small- to medium-size businesses and to large corporate customers. FedEx has been Kinko's exclusive shipping provider since 1988. Scitex Selling Digital Printing TEL AVIV, ISRAEL—Scitex Corp. and Eastman Kodak have signed a

Meridian Printing Wins Gold NEW YORK CITY—Meridian Printing won the coveted 2003 Sappi North American Printer of the Year award at an elegant, black-tie awards gala held here recently. The East Greenwich, RI-based printer was acclaimed for excellence of printing craftsmanship in its production of the "100 years of Harley Davidson" book, which was printed on 100-lb. Sappi Porcelain Dull Text paper. The 275,000-copy run, for publisher Melcher Media, was printed four-color process with varnish at 250 line screen on Meridian's Heidelberg CD sheetfed press. As the Sappi North American Printer of the Year winner, Meridian received a trophy and a handcrafted gold medallion. A Real Fancy Affair The

BY MARK SMITH Technology Editor Looking back, 2003 has shaped up much the same as 2002 for magazine publishers and publication printers. Both are still holding out hope for a rebound in advertising spending but, at the same time, are wary of to what extent the competitive standing of magazines has permanently changed. Consider one measure of industry activity: the Publishers Information Bureau (PIB) index of consumer magazine ad pages. Through October, advertising revenue was up 8.7 percent, but ad pages were down 0.2 percent compared to the same period in 2002. The comprehensive numbers only tell part of the story, since the

(Editor's Note: Company rankings for the current and previous years are based on figures reported in 2003. Therefore, companies that revised their 2002 revenues may have changed their 2002 ranking as compared with the ranking that appeared in last year's Printing Impressions 400. Similarly, the percentage change in sales is calculated on the most recent information provided.) 1 ('02: 1) Quebecor World, Montréal, Canada Total Sales (Millions): $6,242.00 Previous Year's Sales (Millions): $6,300.00 Change (%): -1 Principal Officer: Jean Neveu Employees: 38,000 Primary Specialties: PUB 26%; ADV 23%; CAT 16%; BKS 12% Web Offset Press Units: 3,156 Sheetfed Press Units: 985 Other Press