Page 25 - PWM2024_May EBook

GLOBAL NEWS

Quicksilver chooses Commercial inkjet print
IN BRIEF

Mimaki Technology sales will dominate
growth in the printing
sector over the next five
years, as Drupa catapults
new technology into
Trends in fashion are ever- fully built a healthy business, wider adoption, accord-
evolving. For those compa- working side by side with ing to a new report by
market intelligence firm
nies working on the fashion laboratories serving Smithers. Forecasting
manufacturing side of these high-end fashion brands, as growth from $117.7bn (£94bn) in 2024 to $162.1bn (£130bn)
dynamic sectors, being at the well as with premium sports- in 2029, Smithers’ The Future of Inkjet Printing to 2029
forefront of the evolution and wear brands. More recently, report predicted a compound annual growth rate in the
inkjet market of 6.6%. At the same time, the report said,
able to keep up with the rapid the volume of publications, graphic media, packaging and
changes is key. Among oth- Inkjet sublimation technology the company was faced with labels printed on inkjet will jump from 1.61 trillion A4
ers, dye sublimation printing an increasingly competitive equivalents to 2.29 trillion. Inkjet’s strong growth stands
technology has grown to digital printed fabrics and global market and all the in contrast to the rest of the print market’s static outlook,
where Smithers predicts output will essentially remain flat
become a must-have manu- garments for different textile changes and disruptions for the remainder of the decade. Drupa takes place from
facturing tool when produc- market segments, the com- caused by COVID-19. To 28 May to 7 June at Messe Düsseldorf.
ing fashion. Why? Arguably, pany has leveraged cutting- overcome the challenges,
it enables users to achieve top edge sublimation printing Quicksilver opted for a Eight Days a Week Print
Solutions (EDWPS), current-
quality with vibrant, consist- solutions to diversify and Mimaki Tiger-1800B MkIII, ly repositioning to become
ent colours. It’s productive, strengthen its production a cutting-edge industrial Eight Group encompassing
efficient, cost-effective, easy and achieve a leading market printer that brought in Eight Plus, has teamed up
with Crawford Technology
to handle, and sustainable. position. Quicksilver seam- Consulting (CTC) to acquire
To sum it up in one phrase, it lessly moved from screen higher speeds, higher pro- creative digital marketing agency Marketlayer. The deal,
ticks all the boxes. print transfer to inkjet trans- ductivity, and unmatched which was completed on Friday (26 April), saw
Digital sublimation print- fer printing thanks to the quality, enabling the com- Nottingham-based Eight Group acquire the majority and
controlling interest of London-based Marketlayer, with
ing is at the core of Italian extensive range of Mimaki pany to explore new opportu- the remainder taken by CTC.Marketlayer, which offers
company, Quicksilver. technologies on offer. The nities and take the business innovative digital communications across a range of sec-
Specialised in manufacturing company has now success- to the next level. tors, was incorporated in 2008 by its current managing
director, Gabe Cooney. Cooney will retain his role and con-
PCP under new ownership tinue to oversee the day-to-day operations of the busi-
ness. The acquisition did not require external finance.

Precision Colour Printing Hypax was formed last in private equity at a number James Cropper’s share
(PCP) has been sold to an year and specialises in taking of companies, including price has soared after the
investment firm that has fur- over middle market busi- Aurelius. PCP is Hypax’s first company said it was
expecting to report reve-
ther buys in its sights. The nesses with sales of at least printing industry buy. nue in line with – and
£36m-turnover web offset €15m (£12.8m), and where Telford-based PCP said: profits slightly ahead of –
and sheetfed printing busi- the business is not currently “Hypax see a significant its previous expectations
ness was put up for sale by performing to its full poten- opportunity for growth in for its FY 2024, according
the Claverley Group in tial but has the potential to PCP, through strategic initia- to an unaudited trading update released today (30 April).
March. PCP’s new owner is improve and grow. The man- tives and continued opera- For the 52-week period to 30 March 2024, the UK paper
Hypax, an independent aging partners are Christian tional excellence. The terms and specialist materials manufacturer’s board said the
investment firm with opera- Schmehl and Philipp Sterkel, of the deal were not dis- outlook for FY 2025 is also encouraging, with a return to
growth expected across both its Advanced Materials and
tions in Berlin and London. who both previously worked closed. Paper and Packaging businesses for the full-year.
Printed.com invests over £1m Accordingly, the company’s share price had jumped by
around 30% on yesterday’s close at the time of writing.
The saga over the future ownership of the Telegraph
Printed.com has bolstered Intelligent Finishing
its production capabilities Systems (IFS). The addi- newspaper and Spectator magazine has entered a new
phase after RedBird canned its takeover deal, putting the
with investment of over £1m tional kit has all been titles up for sale again. The Abu Dhabi backed takeover
into its printing operations, had caused controversy over the potential for foreign
including a second Canon installed at Printed.com’s owners to take control of key UK media assets, resulting in
VarioPrint iX3200 inkjet main circa-4,600sqm fresh legislation being drawn up to stop foreign states
press. During March, the Northumberland site. from owning UK newspaper and news magazines.
business took delivery of the Printed.com, which also Although RedBird IMI had pledged to protect the editorial
Canon press – which fol- runs digital presses from HP process at the Telegraph and Spectator, it said the defini-
lowed the installation of its Agfa’s Inkjet Printer Portfolio tion of a foreign power in the new legislation meant it
first iX3200 in 2022, plus a and Ricoh, employs around would not be possible to proceed. Attention will now turn
Renz Mobi 500 semi-auto- punch machine direct from 170 staff and has a turnover to a raft of potential future owners somewhat closer to
matic binding machine and Renz, and a Horizon SPF- aim of “just shy of £25m” for home, if the previous auction process is now dusted off.
a Renz AP 360 automatic 200A bookletmaker from this year.

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