MagnaGlobal Revises Ad Forecast Up

MagnaGlobal revises U.S. ad forecast up to 3.7% growth this year: New York—U.S. ad revenue will grow by 3.7% this year over last year, according to a revised forecast by MagnaGlobal, the global media unit of IPG's Mediabrands. This forecast is up from a 2.9% growth projection issued by MagnaGlobal in October.

Media Executives Cautiously Optimistic for 2012

Report: Media execs cautiously optimistic: New York—Media executives are cautiously optimistic about this year, according to the “2012 Media Growth Survey Report,” released by Jordan, Edmiston Group and Econsultancy.

CFO Publishing Buys Innovation Enterprise

CFO Publishing acquires Innovation Enterprise Group: New York—CFO Publishing, publisher of CFO, has acquired the London-based Innovation Enterprise Group, a producer of conferences for senior finance executives. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Topspin Buys Stagnito Media

Stagnito Media sold to Topspin Partners: Deerfield, Ill.—Stagnito Media, a b-to-b media company that focuses on the food and retail sectors, has been sold to private equity firm Topspin Partners LBO for an undisclosed sum.

Bertelsmann Spins Off Its Arvato Printing Operations

Bertelsmann Spins Off Its Arvato Printing Operations: GÜTERSLOH, GERMANY—Jan. 25, 2012—Bertelsmann is focusing its Arvato division on growth with an emphasis on the services businesses. To achieve this, the gravure printing operations and all of Arvato’s international printers are being grouped into a separate unit outside the Arvato division.The new printing unit will have revenues of €1.2 billion and will consist of the Prinovis Group and its sites in Germany and the U.K., along with Arvato’s printers in Italy, Spain and the United States.

Kodak Seeking $950 Million from Investors

Kodak identifies core businesses as it pitches for $950m financing: Kodak has singled out digital printing and packaging solutions as being among its most valuable growth businesses, as part of its pitch to potential investors.

U.S. and Canada Sign Lumber Trade Extension

The 2006 U.S.-Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement will be extended an additional two years until 2015.  In the original agreement, which remains unchanged, the U.S. agreed to cease imposing antidumping and countervailing duties and Canada consented to export charges and volume limitations when the price fell below a certain level.

U.S. Recovered Paper Use Falls

U.S. Recovered Paper Consumption Drops 5% in 2011: According to the December 2011 Recovered Paper Monthly Report published by the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), total U.S. industry consumption of recovered paper was 2.3 million tons, 7.5% lower than December of last year, and 3% lower than November 2011. Overall, consumption of recovered paper in 2011 was 5% lower than in 2010.

Kruger Corner Brook Mill Announces Plan

http://foresttalk.com/index.php/2012/01/23/job-cuts-coming-to-corner-brook-pulp-and-paper/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foresttalk%2FZdAe+%28ForestTalk%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Kruger announced a cost cutting plan for its Corner Brook, Newfoundland mill; it includes reducing labor costs and will be implemented in the first quarter of 2012.  The mill has two paper machines with a total capacity of approximately 260,000 metric tonnes per year of newsprint.  In what was assumed to be an accidental release of an internal company memorandum to CBC, Kruger said mill labor costs were $40 per metric tonne more than the $100 average for North America and that the facility would operate more efficiently with 135 fewer workers.

Meredith Buys Allrecipes.com from Reader’s Digest Association

Meredith Buys Allrecipes.com from Reader’s Digest Association:

Meredith Corp. is acquiring all recipes.com from reader’s Digest for $175 million.  The deal is expected to close by the end of this quarter.

Meredith National Media Announces FY Q2 Results

Meredith National Media Group's Ad Revenue Drops in Fiscal Second Quarter: Meredith saw a mixed fiscal 2012 second quarter, according to a company financial statement. While expenses for the National Media Group decreased 8 percent from the same period last year, overall and advertising revenue also fell during this quarter. Net revenue per magazine page rose by 8% .

24 Days, 9 Magazine/Website Deals

Have You Noticed? There's Been a Flurry of Magazine M&A:

Nine magazine and website deals in the last 24 days. More than a few magazine and media executives spent the holidays putting the finishing touches on deal closures. We're only 3 weeks into January and there's been a flurry of M&A action—from decently big deals to small.

Heart & Soul Magazine Sold to Group of Investors

Heart & Soul Magazine Sold to Group of Investors: Heart & Soul, an 18-year old wellness magazine historically serving African-American women, has been sold by independent owner Edwin V. Avent to a group of investors known as Brown Curry Detry Taylor & Associates, LL.

R.R. Donnelley Signs Agreement with Metro Inc.

Donnelley Signs Multimillion-Dollar Print Management Agreement With Metro: CHICAGO/TORONTO—Jan. 24, 2012—R. R. Donnelley & Sons has been awarded a multiyear, multimillion-dollar agreement by Metro Inc., a leading grocery and pharmacy chain in Quebec and Ontario with more than 65,000 employees.

Supercalendered Paper Shipments Decline in December

As reported by the Pulp and Paper Products Council, Supercalendered paper shipments for December fell -29.7% in December as compared to the same month last year.  Shipments were down -7.9% for the year.  SC-A/SC-A+ shipments decreased -24.6% for the month and fell -14.1% for the year.  Demand for the grade was down -22.8% for December and -7.8% for 2011 and imports decreased -16.5% for the month, but rose +1.2% for the year.  SC-B/SNC+ shipments declined -35% for December, but increased +1.6% in 2011.  Demand for the grade fell -33.4% for the month, but was up +2.8% for the year.  Imports jumped >100% for both the month and for the full year.

NewPage Names Executive Vice President

James C. Tyrone Returns to NewPage as Executive Vice President, Commercial Operations & Business Development: 

NewPage has appointed James C. Tyrone as executive vice president, Commercial Operations and Business Development, effective February 1, 2012. The Sales and Marketing, Order Management and Strategy groups will be realigned under his direction.  Mr. Tyrone was formerly senior vice president of Sales and Marketing for the company.  He most recently served as senior vice president at Appleton Papers.

Resolute Forest Products Extends Date

Resolute Extending Offer for Fibrek to February 13:

AbitibiBowater Inc., doing business as Resolute Forest Products, today announced that it extended to February 13 the expiry date for its offer to acquire all the issued and outstanding common shares of Fibrek Inc.  Resolute CEO Richard Garneau said, "…over 57% of Fibrek shares have been tendered as of today."

Old Navy President Resigns

Old Navy president resigns: John Thomson (Tom) Wyatt, president of Gap Inc.'s Old Navy brand, resigned his position in order to become CEO of Portland-based global education company Knowledge Universe-U.S., said John Fread, director of PR at Knowledge Universe.

RRD Closes CT Plant

http://www.piworld.com/aggregatedcontent/117-lose-jobs-when-donnelley-printing-plant-windsor-ct-closesRR Donnelley & Sons is closing its Windsor, CT location in March, putting 117 people out of work. The company is required by law to let the state Department of Labor know about its plans two months ahead of the layoffs, and it did so on Monday.

Standard Register Announces Restructuring

Standard Register Announces Strategic Restructuring, Workforce Reduction: Standard Register announced a strategic restructuring program to better align the company’s resources in support of its growing core solutions business and to reduce costs to offset the impact of to offset the impact of declining revenue in its legacy operations.