St. Ives Inc. U.S.

The year 2000 brought a myriad of activity in the financial printing segment, from a slowing economy to a number of printer acquisitions. BY CAROLINE MILLER The end of 1999 will be recorded by many in the financial printing industry as one of the best years in modern history. However, the dawn of the new millennium found the financial printing market feeling the effects of a slowing economy. The year 2000 saw uncertain demand in capital markets activity, most noticeably the softening of IPO and mergers and acquisitions in the third quarter, leading to a significant slowdown in the number of deals brought to

Is commercial printing a dying industry? By looking at the boom in sales figures reported by some printers this year, the answer is a resounding no. BY CHRIS BAUER Looking for the answer of how to boost your annual sales by 20, 40, even 60 percent or more? Does that sort of annual revenue growth seem impossible? This might sound like some late-night infomercial, but it can be done. Several firms on this year's Printing Impressions 400 have reported tremendous sales growth in their most recent fiscal year. These are the movers and shakers of the printing industry. Sales figures can explode as a

GPO Appropriations Approved WASHINGTON, DC—Congress has approved funding for the Government Printing Office's (GPO) Congressional Printing and Binding Appropriation to the tune of $71.4 million for fiscal year 2001, down nearly 3 percent from the $73.2 million approved for fiscal year 2000. The appropriation is used to cover the costs of printing work that the GPO performs for Congress, such as the Congressional Record, bills, reports and hearings. Congress also ticketed $27.9 million (down roughly 6 percent from 2000) for the salaries and expenses appropriation of the superintendent of documents. The funding is used to cover the costs of distributing government publications as required

PHILADELPHIA—Hoping to take a huge bite out of the U.S. financial printing market, Burrups Packard, based here, announced that it has acquired key assets of longtime competitor Global Financial Press of New York. Terms of the acquisition were not revealed. Global Financial Press, a privately held company, entered into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August. The acquisition effectively consolidates the two former competitors and launches Burrups Packard into the $100 million range for financial printing services nationwide and solidifies its lofty standing in the Philadelphia region. Burrups Packard is the U.S.-based financial printing unit of London-based St. Ives plc and Burrups Ltd., Europe's largest printing

CLEVELAND—St. Ives/ Perlmuter Printing, having completed its name change to St. Ives, has broken ground on a $12 million expansion project. The expansion provides for 20 percent more space and will house a new web press and a state-of-the-art stitcher. Purchased three years ago by London-based St. Ives plc, Perlmuter officials say they were sensitive to changing their name in the local market. Established in 1917, the Perlmuter family provided a long legacy of printing services to customers in the Cleveland area, and nationally as well. "We are pleased to introduce the St. Ives organization to the Cleveland market," says Wayne R. Angstrom, president and CEO

As computer-to-plate grows in popularity and application, prepress officials and technology providers trade outlooks on CTP's hottest issues—especially the true commercial availability of thermal plates. What's better—thermal or non-thermal? Warning: They tell it like it is. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Is the jury still out on the long-term merits of thermal imaging—and the consumables considerations any reasonable prepress director must labor over when deliberating which output device to recommend, thermal or non-thermal? For one, Maureen Richards, prepress technical director at United Lithograph, now a Mail-Well company, has her thermal reservations. "The current thermal technology is not 'utopia,' but I am perhaps biased by

Not long after revelers congregated in Times Square to watch the ball drop, signaling the start of 1998, paper prices reflected the first increase of the new year. "It was three dollars per hundred weight or roughly 6.5 percent on a typical 40/45 lb. number four or five sheet," relates Bruce Janis, president of MSPGA: Management Science for the Publishing and Graphic Arts, of the first-quarter jump. MSPGA Internal Paper AnalysisMarket Prices Charged by 10 Sample Printers &nbsp45 lb. No.540 lb. No.5 Printers(anon.)Nov.Mar.Nov.Mar. A$42.90$45.75$45.76$48.75 B$41.85$44.86$44.20$47.00 C$43.75$46.75$43.00$46.00 D$44.55$48.68$47.52$50.25 E$44.59$47.50$50.55$52.50 F$42.55$45.70$44.10$47.25 G$45.55$48.00$46.85$50.00 H$42.90$45.90$47.52$50.52 I$41.56$44.50$50.22$53.00 J$45.75$48.75$48.50$51.50 Mean$43.60$46.64$46.82$49.68 Source: MSPGA Management Science for thePublishing and Graphic Arts (New York)Questions or comments may be directed toMSPGA at (888) MSPGA14. HTTP://www.MSPGA.com The increase was

In 1996, millions of textbooks were printed in North America. High-quality, high-circulation news magazines, such as Business Week, Time and Newsweek, reported circulations topping 15 million. In the United States alone, 60 million Bibles were produced that year for distribution throughout the world. With this explosion in commercial web printing and the reduction of profit margins, press operators are exploring new ways to save time and money. For two commercial printers—Quebecor-Hawkins, in Kingsport, TN, and St. Ives, in Hollywood, FL—the solution was a new no-pack printing blanket. A Blanket Solution"We realized that a no-pack printing blanket was just what today's commercial web printers needed,"