Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Catalyst Paper Closing Snowflake Mill

Catalyst Paper is permanently closing its Snowflake mill in Arizona:
Catalyst Paper has decided to permanently close its Snowflake recycle mill located in northeastern Arizona and its subsidiary the Apache Railway Company. The mill has two PMs with the capacity to produce ~400,000 stpy of newsprint and uncoated mechanical paper.
This follows extensive efforts to improve the operation’s financial performance in the face of intense supply input and market pressures. The operation is scheduled to shut production on September 30, 2012.

RISI Names Richard Garneau "CEO of the Year"

Richard Garneau named 2012 North American CEO of the Year:
RISI today announced that Richard Garneau, President and Chief Executive Officer of Resolute Forest Products, has been selected as RISI’s 2012 North American CEO of the Year.

Domtar Reports Q2 Results

Domtar Corporation Reports Preliminary Second Quarter 2012 Financial Results: Domtar Corporation (NYSE: UFS) (TSX: UFS) today reported net earnings of $59 million ($1.61 per share) for the second quarter of 2012 compared to net earnings of $28 million ($0.76 per share) for the first quarter of 2012.

China's June RCP & Pulp Imports Fall

According to data from China Customs; China's total recovered paper (RCP) imports fell 16.7% to nearly 2.346 million tonnes in June, down from some 2.816 million tonnes in May.
China's total pulp imports fell 9.4% in June compared to the previous month, to nearly 1.354 million tonnes.

Resolute Estimates Cost of Bowater Mersey Closing

Resolute Forest Products’ costs for closing Bowater Mersey:
Resolute Forest Products has amended their estimate for the cost they will incur for indefinitely idling the Bowater Mersey newsprint mill in Nova Scotia.
Resolute Forest Products now estimates that it will incur, on an accounting basis, a charge of approximately $18 million for severance and other termination benefits and approximately $77 million of asset impairment charges to reduce the carrying value of the mill assets.

USPS Default Coming, Congress Not Moved to Act

Looming U.S. Postal Service Default Shakes Mailers’ Confidence: Missing the health pre-payment, the first default in the agency’s history, would not cause interruptions in service or prevent the Postal Service from paying suppliers and employees, USPS spokesman David Partenheimer said in an email. 
The U.S. Postal Service is bracing for a first-ever default on billions in payments due to the Treasury, adding to widening uncertainty about the mail agency’s solvency as first-class letters plummet and Congress deadlocks on ways to stem the red ink.

Cabela's Multi-Channel Future


Cabela's is taking initial steps to focus on a print-to-digital transformation. Last year, the company began to develop an approach to transform our 51-year-old legacy catalog business into an omni-channel enterprise.

New York Magazine & Dwell Annouce Venture


Dwell Media and New York Magazine today unveil the name of their joint venture celebrating design, now known as CITY MODERN. The partnership is comprised of a joint-publication (out this Fall), 10+ special design events the week of Oct 1-7, and modern home tours in Manhattan & Brooklyn Oct 6 & 7. 

Financial Times Digital Subscriptions Top Print


The Financial Times’ digital subscribers surpassed its print customers for the first time, marking a milestone that the New York Times and other newspapers with so-called paywalls are aiming to reach.
The newspaper’s digital subscribers grew 31 percent to 300,000 paying readers, compared with a year ago, Financial Times owner Pearson Plc (PSON) said today. Total circulation, including print, increased to almost 600,000.

F+W Acquires Aspire Media

F+W Acquires Aspire Media:  F+W has purchased Aspire Media, a Loveland, Colorado-based enthusiast publisher serving the craft market and backed by private equity firms Frontenac Company and Catalyst Investors. Terms of the deal were not released, but F+W CEO David Nussbaum says it will add another 30 percent of revenue to the company.

New Paper Options

New Paper Options: 
Production managers weigh in.
The basic idea behind paper buying is to strike the right balance between cost and quality. Determine your organization’s priorities, and make your compromises accordingly.

Omnimedia Reports Q2 Results

Martha Stewart Pares Loss; Publishing Still Weighs: Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc.’s  second-quarter loss narrowed as the media-and-merchandise company’s struggling publishing unit continued to weigh on its revenue. Martha Stewart Living reported a loss of $2.7 million, or 4 cents a share, compared with a loss of $2.94 million, or 5 cents, a year earlier. The most-recent quarter included $777,000 in restructuring charges. Revenue dropped 13% to $47.9 million.

Graphic Arts & Print; Pessimism for Q3

Semper Finds Pessimism Regarding Third-Quarter Sales in Latest ‘Industry Insight’ Survey: Semper International, the leading placement firm for skilled help in the graphic arts and printing industry, announces that in spite of profitability throughout the industry, many companies have a negative outlook for the rest of the quarter. The results of Semper’s most recent “Industry Insight” survey show a negative outlook and indecision about hiring plans.

Search for North America’s Greenest Printers

Search Launched for North America’s Greenest Printers: Canopy announces the release of the first comprehensive effort to identify North America’s greenest printers. The “Green Print Leadership Survey” will be circulated to the top 50 printers in North America to identify those demonstrating the highest green standards and engagement on forest conservation.

IDEAlliance; New Specification for Intelligent Mail

IDEAlliance Publishes New Specification for Intelligent Mail: IDEAlliance and its Postal Operations and Technology Committee has published for public review a new specification for presort vendors, list processors, inkjet technicians, and all concerned mail owners who choose to support the launch of the Intelligent Mail Package Barcode (IMpb) Implementation for Commercial Parcels.