MeadWestvaco posts 4Q profit on higher sales:
MeadWestvaco says sales gains in its specialty chemicals business drove the packaging company to a fourth quarter profit.
The Richmond, Va., company reported earnings of $17 million, or 10 cents per share, for the three-month period ended Dec. 31, compared with a loss of $25 million, or 14 cents per share, in the final quarter of 2011. Adjusted for charges related to the spin-off of its consumer and office products business and other items, it earned 7 cents per share, far below the 18 cents per share analysts expected.
Revenue increased 4 percent to $1.33 billion.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Verso Plans to Sell Sartell Facility
Verso Paper Corp. today
announced plans to sell its disaster-idled Sartell plant to AIM Development
(USA) LLC.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The deal was announced in a two-paragraph email. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter. It includes substantially all of the assets of the mill, home of Verso's wholly owned subsidiary, Verso Sartell LLC.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The deal was announced in a two-paragraph email. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter. It includes substantially all of the assets of the mill, home of Verso's wholly owned subsidiary, Verso Sartell LLC.
Avery Dennison to Sell Office & Consumer Products
Avery Dennison Corporation (AVY)
today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell its Office
and Consumer Products (OCP) and Designed and Engineered Solutions (DES)
businesses to CCL Industries Inc. (CCL-A.TO)(CCL-B.TO), a global leader in
specialty packaging solutions, for $500 million in cash. The transaction is
subject to customary closing conditions, adjustments and regulatory approvals,
and is expected to be completed in mid-2013.
The Concept of Carbon Neutrality
The WBCSD Forest Solutions Group
today released a report providing a framework for understanding carbon
neutrality. The Issue Brief: Biomass Carbon Neutrality distills and
synthesizes the complexity of the debate and underlines the importance of
carbon neutrality in public policy.
Using biomass-derived fuels and
materials instead of more fossil fuel-intensive alternatives is one approach to
mitigating increases in atmospheric CO2. However, the benefits of
using biomass are under question, with the debate often centered on whether
biomass is “carbon neutral”. There is no widely accepted definition for “carbon
neutrality” and different people understand it to have different meanings.
Time Inc. Layoffs Begin
Time Inc. Laying Off Six Percent of 8,000 Staff: The rumored and significant cuts at Time Inc. have begun today. According to an internal memo from CEO Laura Lang, about six percent of the company's 8,000 employees will be let go—close to 500 people. According to the memo, the cuts are impacting a variety of areas throughout the company, both domestically and internationally.
BtoB's Outlook 2013: Robust Optimism
Marketers plan to markedly
increase spending this year and are as bullish as in 2011, according to a study
by BtoB, which presented findings along with marketer reaction during a webcast
Tuesday.
The report, “Outlook 2013:
Marketing Priorities & Plans,” found 49% of respondents planned to spend
more this year, up from 40% in 2012. Only 10% said they planned to cut their
budgets.
Magazine Use Digital to Boost Prices
http://readwrite.com/2013/01/24/why-magazines-are-using-digital-to-boost-prices-not-bolster-innovation
As magazines make the transition
from print to pixels, some publishers are using the move as an opportunity to jack up their prices - in some
cases, to more than they were charging for print editions.
And that's for tablet versions that are too often crappy afterthoughts. To be fair, magazines are contending with legitimate financial concerns. Their advertising revenue has been declining and the historically discounted subscription rates they've charged for print delivery just aren't enough to pay the freight. To cope, many publishers are asking readers to chip in more - on digital versions as well as print editions.
And that's for tablet versions that are too often crappy afterthoughts. To be fair, magazines are contending with legitimate financial concerns. Their advertising revenue has been declining and the historically discounted subscription rates they've charged for print delivery just aren't enough to pay the freight. To cope, many publishers are asking readers to chip in more - on digital versions as well as print editions.
Survey: 100% of Magazines Digital in 2013
http://www.emarketer.com/Article/This-Year-All-Publishers-Go-Mobile/1009628
Media businesses have already gone through a first wave of digital transition, and in the last few years, mobile has been the next frontier. Publishers have been tasked with deciding whether to offer their content on the smaller-screen devices—and how.
This year will be a seminal one, marking the first time 100% of publishers will format their content for mobile, according to an Alliance for Audited Media survey of 210 media companies in North America. The development points to both digital’s essential role in media companies’ future profits and the importance of mobile to consumers’ daily media lives.
Media businesses have already gone through a first wave of digital transition, and in the last few years, mobile has been the next frontier. Publishers have been tasked with deciding whether to offer their content on the smaller-screen devices—and how.
This year will be a seminal one, marking the first time 100% of publishers will format their content for mobile, according to an Alliance for Audited Media survey of 210 media companies in North America. The development points to both digital’s essential role in media companies’ future profits and the importance of mobile to consumers’ daily media lives.
New Approach: Keep Magazine Apps Simple
Faced with floods of online content,
readers open magazine apps for a cohesive, relaxed reading experience -- only
to cope with massive file downloads and confusing, complex interfaces.
A new batch of magazine
publishers wants to move in a different direction. Drawing on the concept of "subcompact
publishing," recently articulated by Craig Mod, and often mentioning
Marco Arment's The Magazine as inspiration, these publishers are
creating minimalist magazine apps that do just enough -- and no more -- to
provide a focused, deep, quality reading experience.
Men's Health Growth: Two, Indpendent Platforms
Bill
Phillips, who became vice president and editor-in-chief of Men's Health when
David Zinczenko left last November, cut his teeth on the brand's
website. He oversees the editorial development of both the website and the
magazine now, but here Phillips checks in with FOLIO: to recount what it took
to bring the website into its own as a standalone brand—distinct from Men's
Health the magazine.
Phillips
says that growth across the Men's Health digital assets has fundamentally come
from understanding that audiences have different needs and wants from each
platform—website, social and tablet. Acknowledging that and treating each
platform as its own product helped contribute to their growth.
Publishers: New Avenues to Tech Innovations
The publishing industry is
looking toward technology communities to foster innovation around mobile
products. While the concept doesn’t seem like something new, the way in which
companies are approaching the tech community is.
Six 2012 Startup Stories
Startup Stories: Here, in our annual look at recent startups, we examine six from the last 12 months that stand out as key initiatives in the mobile, print and online markets. They range from larger consumer publisher brands to smaller b-to-b plays that aim to disrupt markets via the mobile platform.
Relaunch of Best Life
Best Life: Economic indicators reach beyond dry data and convoluted graphs. That is to say that a number of environmental factors can suggest which way the economy is moving. Keeping that in mind, the relaunch of a magazine whose core focus is to showcase a luxury lifestyle and advertise luxury goods could indicate things are moving in the right direction. That was publisher of Men’s Health Ronan Gardiner’s hope when he spearheaded the return of Rodale’s Best Life in 2012.
DuJour: Quality Goals for Digital & Print
DuJour: It took Jason Binn a career in the luxury market and two straight years of independent research studying the media consumption and purchasing habits of his target audience, but the launch of DuJour Media has taken niche to the next level.
Success Story of Ratchet+Wrench
Ratchet+Wrench: When there’s a hole in your marketplace, you fill it. That’s the attitude of Jay DeWitt, president of 10 Missions Media, the company that introduced the 100,000-circulation title Ratchet+Wrench in July 2012.
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