sitemap News Chinese Home About Us Production capability Product&Service Printing company interim profits fall as promotional activity squeezes margins Date:2009-11-11 16:29:00 Hub-and-spoke print franchise pioneer Printing.com has recorded a 14.7% drop in pre-tax profits to £870,000 on almost flat turnover and total retail sales figures in its interim results. The company attributed the erosion in its margins to its ongoing promotional and discounting activity, which has been the hallmark of its strategy to support its franchise partners during the recession. As a result, the book Printing franchise has continued to expand its network through the recession, recording a net increase of seven outlets over the six months to 30 September 2009. Chief executive Tony Rafferty said: "We are adding outlets on a net basis. We are doing more new deals than that figure actually sets out and that is chalk and cheese different from what I believe any of the other networks are doing." However, one apparent casualty of the global financial meltdown has been printing company master licence agreement with Icelandic firm KVOS, which has been terminated by mutual agreement. "[Iceland] is a country with a population the size of Cardiff and we felt there were better areas for us to put our efforts into and I guess our Icelandic partners needed to go back to their core marketplace," said Rafferty. "We've swapped one of the smallest western democracies for one of the largest in the United States over the past year and that's a change we're content with." Meanwhile, the printing Company recorded a £400,000 capital investment for the period, predominantly in its Flyerlink software, which Rafferty said was gearing up for a major outing at next year's Ipex 2010 international magazine printing trade show. "We've been planning this for more than three years now and we will be demonstrating at Ipex our vision for the next 10 years, which is based around a complete suite of e-business tools designed to deliver out-of-the-box functionality," he said. "We believe our partners will have to transact more business per person per month in five years than they do today and to enable that to happen in a sustainable way we've got to develop e-business tools to help our franchises transact more efficiently – that's at the heart of our philosophy." The printing Company, which has approved the payment of a total of £1.8m in final and special dividends, will maintain its cautious approach into next year, according to Rafferty, who said it was prudent to maintain a "seige mentality" against the difficult economic climate. He added: "My belief is that it's not going to get that much worse, whether it drops a little bit after the stimulus comes off next year remains to be seen. "I think over the next 12 months we will see some return to positive GDP but it's too early at the moment to call, so at the moment we still keep our seige mentality heads on." preview:Magazine Printing in China next:Chinese printing manufacturers and suppliers are hosting by Ipex 2010 Company Introduction Founded in 1998, Guangzhou Xin Yi Printing Co., Ltd. has become a medium size full service printing enterprise through the 16 years evelopment.Located in the city of Guangzhou which is one of the most energetic cities as well as logistic centers in China and Southeast Asia, we have been providing our quality services to customers all around the world and our home land. Addr :No.3 Kangmei Road, Fuling Industry Park, Tangmei,Xintang Town, Zengcheng, Guangzhou. Tel: (0086) (020) 32052716 32050514 Facsimile: 0086 020 32052712 Email: sales@gzxinyiprint.com Tel: (0086)(020) 32052716 32050514 Email: sales@gzxinyiprint.com support:JMEII Portable soccer goal 粤ICP备09173555号-1 Privacy Notice