Monday, July 9, 2012

Sappi CWF Machine Down

Since a fire last week, production on Sappi's one machine at its Nijmegen, Netherlands mill, PM 7, which has a capacity of 240,000 tonne/yr of coated woodfree, has been suspended.
The fire began in some cabling on the outside of the factory building shortly before 8 PM on July 4.
Reparation work is ongoing, but no date has been set for restarting the machine.

Steep Drop in Newsprint Continues

Steep drop in newsprint continues: Steep demand declines in North America and Western Europe, as well as a slowdown in growth from Asia and the introduction of new machines in developing markets, will necessitate the removal of 3.5 million to 4.4 million tonnes of newsprint capacity around the world over the next several years, according to RISI's just-released Global Newsprint Risk of Closure study.

USPS Offers Picture Permit

USPS Picture Permit program now open: The U.S. Postal Service has opened online registration for its Picture Permit option, allowing commercial mailers to include logos, trademarks, brand images and other kinds of marketing designs in the postage information area on mail pieces.

Wicks Group Buys Northstar

Northstar Travel Media Acquired by Wicks GroupNorthstar Travel Media, a leading business-information company serving the travel and meetings industries, has been acquired by the Wicks Group, making it one of the very few successful transactions in traditional b-to-b media in the last several years.

Valassis; 90% of Grocery Retailers Use Circulars

Valasssis Survey Reveals Supermarket Media Preferences:Valassis shared the results of a study indicating that 90 percent of grocery retailers still use weekly circulars as their promotion of choice.

NAPL Webinar: Historic Opportunity in Print


The National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL) invites industry professionals to attend a free educational webinar, titled “Historic Opportunity Awaits the Printing Industry.” It will be led by NAPL President and CEO Joseph P. Truncale, Ph.D., and Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Andrew Paparozzi.

"Self" Introduces New Site


Self  magazine has adopted a new tagline, I Curate My Life. Now, it’s extending that idea to a forthcoming standalone site, Selfcurateyourlook.
The site, which Self is calling a “virtual trunk show,” rolls out in September, the kickoff to the fall fashion season. It will present Selfstaff-selected products and a rotating series of advertisers’ products in sleek, catalogue-style displays.

Magazines Embrace Adding Digital


The magazine industry recently emerged from a decade-long period of denial about digital media.
As circulation seizes up and declines and advertisers seem shaky at best about the role of print in their marketing mix, suddenly the periodical industry is all-in for digital, especially apps. Many have used the term “digital do-over” to describe the opportunity to catch the app/tablet/mobile wave that most of them boggled online. And so we are getting a range of magazine editions of the print product as well as new units at companies like Rodale and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia that are churning out lines of apps.

Heidelberg Expands in Asian Market

Heidelberg Successfully Expands Its Business in the Asian Pacific Market: Printers in emerging countries increasingly invest in technology made by Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg). In paricular, the market for packaging printing is growing.

Media & Marketing M&A Up

Report: Media and marketing M&A activity increases: Merger and acquisition deals in the media and marketing space totaled 834 in the first half, an increase of 6% over the second half of 2011, according to data released by investment bank Berkery, Noyes & Co. In the same time frame, aggregate deal value increased 27%, to $31.51 billion.

Friday, July 6, 2012

MeadWestvaco Suing NewPage


 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-25/houghton-ritz-camera-hostess-dewey-bicent-bankruptcy.html
MeadWestvaco is suing NewPage for alleged breach of contract over asbestos liabilities specified in an equity and asset purchase agreement between the two companies.
The liabilities were assumed when NewPage was formed in 2005 through its $2.05 billion purchase of MeadWestvaco's coated paper business.
NewPage has told MeadWestvaco it is rejecting the agreement, which says NewPage must "defend and indemnify" MeadWestvaco for asbestos injury claims arising from the businesses transferred to NewPage.

Norske Skog Invests in Halden

Norske Skog invests a quarter of a billion in Halden: Norske Skog will invest NOK 220 million in an expansion and renewal of the thermo-mechanical pulp plant at Norske Skog Saugbrugs in Halden. The old pulp plant will be replaced by a modern facility, which will supply pulp to the paper machines at a much lower cost than today.

Indian Company Buys Terrace Bay Pulp

http://blogs.wsj.com/dealjournalindia/2012/07/06/indias-birla-group-to-buy-canadas-terrace-bay-pulp-mill/
India’s Aditya Birla Group Thursday said it will acquire Canada’s Terrace Bay Pulp Mill Inc. for an undisclosed amount.
Since January, the mill has been under the protection of a Canadan law that allows financially troubled firms to restructure and avoid bankruptcy.
Aditya Birla plans to convert the mill to produce a different kind of pulp than it was previously producing.

IBISWorld; Direct Mail Recovering from Recession

Direct Mail Advertising Hurt Less by, Rebounding from the Recession Says IBISWorld: The recession caused demand for the direct mail advertising industry to fall as businesses cut costs to maintain profit...For marketers that want to target a specific group or niche market, direct forms of advertising are often more cost effective than traditional advertising. Direct mail advertising displays relatively low volatility, suffering less in a downturn because many businesses substitute their traditional advertising methods with cheaper, broader-reaching advertising methods...When the economy slows and businesses trim marketing budgets, marketers turn to more cost-effective and targeted forms of promotion. While fewer funds are allocated to marketing across the board, the proportion devoted to direct mail grows; in essence, the industry takes a larger slice of a smaller pie. This factor helped distance the industry from the declines experienced by the wider advertising sector during the recession...During the five years to 2017, industry revenue is expected to increase. For more information, visit IBISWorld’s “Direct Mail Advertising in the US: Market Research Report” page. Opens in a new window

USPS Begins Closings

USPS begins consolidating processing facilities: Washington, D.C.—The U.S. Postal Service this week began to consolidate and close processing plants to cut expenses. Up to 48 service facilities will be impacted over the next two months. The USPS plans to close about 140 plants in its next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, and another 90 the following year. In addition, the USPS is offering buyouts and retirement packages to 21,000 postmasters as well as 45,000 mail handlers.

USPS Customers Already Worried

With Cuts on the Way, Postal Service Customers Already Bemoan Delays: Even before the Postal Service begins closing hundreds of processing centers to cut costs, several businesses say they are beginning to see a decline in service. In Wisconsin, Publisher’s Diversified Mail Service, a direct marketing firm that sends out 50 million to 75 million pieces of mail a year, said there had been delays in getting promotions delivered on time.

Multichannel Retailers More Optimistic


Online-only and multichannel retailers both expect growth in the next year, according to new research from Eccomplish, which found about 73 percent of them are anticipating growing revenues anywhere between 1 and 20 percent. That compares with the 79 percent of multichannel retailers who expect the same growth, according to managementtoday.com.
An even wider gap exists between the 4 percent of online-only retailers who expect more than 50 percent growth and the 10 percent of multichannel retailers who are planning for it.

Study Reports H2 Private Sector Job Forecast


While the jobs recovery continues to lag that of previous recessions, the outlook for the back half of 2012 shows continued improvement over 2011. Forty-four percent of private sector employers reported they are planning to hire full-time, permanent staff from July 1 through December 31, 2012, an increase of nine percentage points over the same period last year.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Initial Reaction to Verso Move Positive


Verso Paper Corp.'s shares soared Tuesday after the paper company said it's talking with stakeholders of NewPage Corp. about bidding for the rival company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September.
Verso's shares rose 56 cents, or nearly 48 percent, to close Tuesday at $1.73. Shares of the Memphis, Tenn.-based company have traded between 85 cents and $3.36 in the past 52 weeks.

NS Offers $1 Million Fund for Private Owners

Nova Scotia providing $1 million fund for building and maintaining private woodlot roads:
The province of Nova Scotia is making $1 million available so private woodlot owners, including those in Queens County and the South Shore, can access more of their forest land.
The provincial fund is helping woodlot owners build and maintain woodlot roads.