CHICAGO—RR Donnelley has signed a multi-year contract extension to produce 100 percent of Ditel SA's Polish telephone directories. The work will continue to be produced at Donnelley's Krakow, Poland facility. Wholly owned by Polish Telecom, Ditel SA is the only company serving the Polish Yellow Pages market that also publishes the white pages. In other company news, Donnelley has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Charlestown, IN, print operations of AdPlex-Rhodes, a provider of advertising and marketing products and services. Originally part of Rhodes Printing, founded in 1973, the Charlestown plant became a part of AdPlex-Rhodes when the company was formed in 2002. Donnelley also received
RR Donnelley
By Warren Chiara Mergers and acquisitions in the printing industry over the past year resulted in some changes at the top of BookTech Magazine's annual Top Book Manufacturing listing—ranked by book manufacturing sales. One change concerns the perennial Nos. 1, 2 and 3 on the list. When RR Donnelley acquired Moore Wallace last year, it changed the way the $8 billion company breaks down its revenues. It used to report the performance of individual units, but now casts revenues into two major business components: publishing and retail services, and integrated print communications and global solutions business. The latter category accounts for 40.2 percent
Rank Company Name, Book Revenue Compared 2004 2004 Book % from Address, Phone, Website, CEO to 2003 Revenue Revenue Books 1 Visant Corp.* N/A $1,462,000,000 $731,000,000 50% St. Louis, 314-966-0909, VonHoffmann.com, Jostens.com, Robert S. Mathews, CEO 2 RR Donnelley** s $7,200,000,000 $698,400,000 9.7% Chicago, 800-742-4455, RRDonnelley.com, Mark A. Angelson, CEO 3 Quebecor World Inc. t $6,622,000,000 $695,310,000 10.5% Montreal, 514-877-5317, QuebecorWorld.com, Pierre Karl Péladeau, CEO 4 Banta Corp. s $1,523,252,000 $289,417,880 19% Menasha, WI, 920-751-7221, Banta.com, Stephanie A. Streeter, President & CEO 5 Arvato Print USA (Bertelsmann) s $293,000,000 $266,630,000 91% Dallas, PA, 570-675-5261, ArvatoUSA.com, Michael Gallagher, Dave Liess, Presidents 6 Courier Corp. t $211,000,000 $177,240,000 84% N. Chelmsford, MA, 978-251-6000, Courier.com, James F. Conway III, CEO 7 Transcontinental Inc. t $1,677,000,000 $144,222,000 8.6% Montreal, 514-954-4000, Transcontinental-GTC.com, Luc DesJardins, CEO 8 Phoenix Color t $128,000,000 $128,000,000 100% Hagerstown, MD, 301-733-0018, PhoenixColor.com, Louis LaSorsa, CEO 9 Walsworth Publishing s $110,000,000 $104,500,000 95% Marceline, MO, 800-369-2646, WalsworthPrinting.com,
PITTSBURGH—In celebration of the final stage of the consolidation of Printing Industries of America and the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation into one organization, a dedication of the newly renovated world headquarters was held recently. Chairman of the Board James Mayes Jr. and Michael Makin, president and CEO, cut the ribbon marking the entrance to the newly refurbished building. Another highlight of the event was the naming of the Ray Roper boardroom, in honor of the late PIA president. CHICAGO—Jesse Williamson has been named the 2005 Sheetfed Executive of the Year by NAPL and PIA/GATF. Williamson, president of Williamson Printing in Dallas, received the award
arizona MESA—Hogue Printing Solutions is the new home for a seven-color, 40˝ Mitsubishi Diamond 3000TP tandem perfector. california GLENDALE—An eight-color Komori Lithrone S40 perfector with coater has been installed at 4-Over Inc. Irwindale—The Processors recently added a five-color Heidelberg Speedmaster SM 74 with perfector and coater to its pressroom. Founded in 1974, the shop houses 19 employees and services advertising agencies and network-based companies. SAN DIEGO—Printing Industries Association of San Diego held its annual membership meeting at PetCo Park, home of the San Diego Padres baseball team, in June. Among those enjoying the game were the new 2005-06 PIA/SD board of directors: Richard
Cenveo Plans Cost Savings ENGLEWOOD, CO—Cenveo announced a comprehensive plan to reduce operating expenses and streamline management functions, a plan that includes the elimination of about 125 jobs—mostly managerial positions. Through these moves, the company expects to save $9 million in 2005 and generate annual savings of $20 million. After having his May 6 formal proposal to take over Cenveo rejected, veteran print executive Robert Burton of Burton Capital Management informed the troubled printer that he will seek a special meeting of shareholders with the intention of removing the existing board members and replacing them with a slate that will "affirmatively act in the best
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA—RR Donnelley (RRD) representatives presented a $50,000 check to Cal Poly State University in support of the Graphic Communication Institute's new RR Donnelley Learning Center. As part of its ongoing commitment to furthering education in the graphic communications industry, MAN Roland awarded the following scholarships to the recently held NAPL and PIA/GATF Management & Leadership Institute: Garland Lipscomb, production supervisor, Stafford Printing, Stafford, VA, was awarded the MAN Roland Larry B. Perkins Scholarship and participated in the program's Graphic Communications Management course; and Scott Vaughan, prepress manager of Kase Printing, Hudson, NH, received the MAN Roland Harry V. Quadracci Scholarship to
CHICAGO—One of the many keys to RR Donnelley's success is its ability to lock up major clients to long-term contracts. The largest U.S. printer recently tied down a trio of pivotal customers with multi-year accords. Leading the way value-wise: an extension of the agreement to produce all of R.H. Donnelley's current telephone directories. R.H. Donnelley publishes directories under the Sprint Yellow Pages and SBC Yellow Pages brands. The multi-year deal, which continues a 15-year relationship between the companies, is worth $400 million. Total distribution numbers 28 million annually, serving about 260,000 local and national advertisers in 19 states. RRD also captured a multi-year accord to print magazines
CHICAGO—RR Donnelley has signed a definitive agreement to acquire The Astron Group, a U.K.-based provider of integrated, end-to-end document business process outsourcing (BPO) solutions, for $990 million in cash. The deal, subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close this summer. The Astron Group provides transactional print and mail services, data and print management, document production and marketing support services. Its BPO expertise meshes with Donnelley's global customer relationships. "We are pleased to deliver on our commitment to grow our document-based outsourcing business," noted Mark Angelson, CEO of Donnelley. "The Astron Group broadens our diverse printing and service capabilities in Europe, provides us with a strong
The top companies in the commercial printing industry must have chosen their moniker for a good reason. To those not familiar with the giants of the graphic arts world, the names RR Donnelley, Quebecor World, Vertis and Banta could just as easily be leaders in any field. The fact is, they don't exactly scream "printing." Today, printers do so much more than just put ink on paper, that having "print" in a company's name doesn't tell the whole story. In fact, it could pigeon-hole a company from getting work not traditionally thought of as done by "printers." The most recent big-name printing company