Sappi NA Completes Planned Capital Investments

http://www.na.sappi.com/home

Sappi Fine Paper North America today announced the most recent completion of a series of coated paper capital investment projects during its 2013 fiscal year, a significant move by the company to maintain and strengthen its leadership position and take advantage of growth opportunities in the coated paper market... 
The Cloquet Mill in Cloquet, Minnesota, has completed a $19M investment in its coated papermaking operations which includes a dry fiber handling system as well as new refiners and former upgrade on PM4. The former rebuild implemented on PM4 allows for all grades and weights to be manufactured with the technical capability of using dry fiber to produce the same base sheet formation and quality as slush fiber... 
At Sappi's Somerset Mill, in Skowhegan, Maine the rebuild of PM3 was completed successfully in October 2012. The $13M investment to upgrade coated paper manufacturing surpassed speed, production, and variable cost goals while achieving all of the formation and quality improvements outlined in the project plan. The implemented improvements on PM3 now allow for the production of a broader range of products on this machine.

Global Inks Market to $18.2 Billion by 2017

http://www.prweb.com/releases/printing_inks/lithographic_digital_inks/prweb897714

GIA announces the release of a comprehensive global report on Printing Inks market. The global market for Printing Inks is projected to reach US$18.2 billion by the year 2017, driven by the mounting popularity of environment friendly inks, and incessant technology innovations that are opening up newer growth avenues including relatively new markets such as UV and ink jet inks. Radiation curing inks and energy-curable ink technology also offer numerous opportunities, thereby pepping up industry growth prospects.  

Catalyst Announces Acceptance of Senior Secured Notes

http://catalystpaper.com/

Catalyst Paper announced today that holders of approximately US$15.6 million of its Floating Rate Senior Secured Notes due 2016 accepted the offer made by Catalyst on March 26, 2013 to purchase up to approximately US$20 million of its Floating Rate Notes. The offer expired 5:00 PM, New York City time on April 24, 2013.

R.R. Donnelley Reports Q1 Results

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company (RRD) Posts Quarterly Earnings, Beats Expectations By $0.04 EPS:
R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company announced its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.04, StocKRatingsNetwork.com reports.
Highlights:
First-quarter 2013 net sales of $2.5 billion grew 0.5% from the first quarter of 2012
U.S. Print and Related Services segment net sales declined 0.5%
International segment net sales grew 3.5%
Organic net sales decline of 1.2% reflects improvement in trend from the previous five quarters -->

RRD to Withdraw Chicago Stock Exchange Listing

RR Donnelley to Withdraw Chicago Stock Exchange Listing, Retains NASDAQ Listing: CHICAGO - R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company today announced plans to voluntarily withdraw the listing of its common stock from the Chicago Stock Exchange. RR Donnelley's common stock will continue to be listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.
RR Donnelley has decided to withdraw its listing from the Chicago Stock Exchange to streamline operations and eliminate duplicative administrative requirements and costs inherent with dual listings.

The Pay-Offs of Personalization

The Pay-Offs of Personalization: A 2012 InfoTrends study of the marketing communication needs (printing, variable data, marketing, etc.) of various businesses finds that marketing efforts featuring a higher level of personalization complexity results in a higher return on investment.
The survey of over 1,000 large businesses, across 10 different vertical industries, found that more than 60% of respondents' campaigns were personalized or segmented.
Response rates and conversion rates from the various personalized marketing campaigns: 

Campaign	Response Rate	Conversion Rate
Print Only	6.0%	16.2%
Print and Email	7.6%	18.3%
Print and PURLs	7.6%	15.3%
Print, Email and PURLs	8.2%	16.5%
Print, Email, PURLs and Mobile	8.7%	19.0%

SpinMedia Buys Vibe

SpinMedia Buys Vibe:  
SpinMedia, a network of music and pop culture sites, has purchased Vibe magazine and reports are indicating that the brand will get the digital-only treatment Spin magazine received shortly after SpinMedia, then called BuzzMedia, bought it in mid-2012. According to The New York Times, SpinMedia has acquired the rights to the print magazine,Vibe.com and Vibevixen.com.

2012 Global Ad Spending Up

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/198936/global-ad-spend-rises-entertainment-telecommunic.html#axzz2RVYzoCAG

Global ad spending improved moderately in 2012 with telecommunications, consumer goods and entertainment categories, growing by mid-to-high single-digit gains.
Nielsen says telecommunications advertising category climbed 7% last year -- and especially in Latin America (up 35.6%) and the Middle East/Africa (13.2% higher).

2012 Internet Ad Revenues Up 15%

Report: Internet Ad Revenues Jump 15 Percent to $37B in 2012:  Despite previously held reservations, the Internet ad market is teeming with profitability—revenues grew for the third consecutive year in a row, reaching $36.6 billion for the full year of 2012, according to the IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report released this month.

Online Sales Tax Bill Passes in Senate

Online Sales Tax Bill On The E-Commerce Industry Passes The U.S. Senate:
The online sales tax bill, also known as the Marketplace Fairness Act advances to the U.S. senate by a 74-20 vote. Depending if you're an online buyer or internet seller, this bill if enacted into law, is definitely going to affect both the Web consumers and online retailers alike.
But what exactly is the Marketplace Fairness Act or S743? Simply stated, this bill would require online retailers to collect state and local sales taxes from all U.S. customers. In the current system, retail sites only collect sales taxes from customers in states where their companies operate. The bill will compel companies having annual online sales of more than $1 million to collect sales tax on those purchases.

Advice for Time Inc

No Time to Waste:
As we all wait for the white smoke to appear above the Time Warner Center, it appears that many are  fixated on gaming the odds of one CEO candidate or another. Mr. Bewkes has already announced (after talks broke down with Meredith) that he wants to “spin out” the magazine assets into a separate company. Recent reports coming from Sixth Avenue indicate that the HR folks are doing all they can to retain their best employees during this period of uncertainty. Not sure how much Laura Lang (outgoing CEO) can and/or will do in the remaining months of her tenure. The departure of chief revenue officer Paul Caine (Time Inc.’s top sales producer) can’t be doing great things for customer relationships either.

UBM Reports Q1 Results

UBM Revenues Down 8 Percent in Q1:
Led by a poor quarter in events, UBM saw revenues decrease 7.9 percent year-over-year in the first three months of 2013.
Total revenues were down to $297.5 million, from $323.2 million in 2012, the company announced in its quarterly earnings report, while adjusted operating margins fell 23.9 percent to $53.5 million.

DMA Speaks Out Against Tax Bill

DMA Discourages Senators from Passing the Marketplace Fairness Act: he Direct Marketing Association (DMA) wrote a letter to the U.S. Senate discouraging its members from passing the current draft of the Marketplace Fairness Act (S.743)—a bill that would give states the power to require remote sellers, including e-commerce sites and catalogers, to collect sales tax. The Senate agreed to move the bill to the floor for debate in a 74 to 20 procedural vote that occurred Monday evening.
In the letter, the DMA claims that the Marketplace Fairness Act “has not received a full vetting and markup in a Senate committee” and asks that the Senate not pass the bill until outlined simplification requirements are met.

Resolute Launches Senior Notes, Tender Offer

http://www.resolutefp.com/en/?langtype=4105 
Resolute Announces Proposed Offering of Senior Notes

Resolute Forest Products Inc. (NYSE: RFP) (TSX: RFP) today announced that it has launched a private offering for $600 million aggregate principal amount of senior notes due 2023. The notes will be unsecured and guaranteed by substantially all of Resolute's U.S. subsidiaries. The net proceeds from the sale of the 2023 notes will be used in connection with the repurchase, repayment or other discharge of all, or substantially all, of the $501.2 million outstanding aggregate principal amount of the Company's 10.25% senior secured notes due 2018. The Company has contemporaneously launched a tender offer for the 2018 notes, which offer is scheduled to expire at 12:00 midnight, New York City time, on May 21, 2013, unless extended by the Company. 
Resolute Launches Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation for its 10.25% Senior Secured Notes

Resolute Forest Products Inc. (NYSE: RFP) (TSX: RFP) today announced that it has launched a cash tender offer for any and all of its $501 million outstanding aggregate principal amount of 10.25% senior secured notes due 2018 (CUSIP No. 003687AB6) (the "2018 notes").  In connection with the tender offer, Resolute is soliciting consents to amend the 2018 notes and the indenture that governs them to eliminate substantially all the restrictive covenants and certain events of default, and to release all the collateral securing the 2018 notes.  The tender offer and consent solicitation are being made pursuant to an offer to purchase and consent solicitation statement, dated April 24, 2013 (the "offer to purchase"), which more fully sets out the terms and conditions of the tender offer and consent solicitation.

Georgia-Pacific to Buy Buckeye Technologies

Georgia-Pacific to buy Buckeye Technologies:
Georgia-Pacific is buying Buckeye Technologies Inc., boosting its product lineup, for about $1.46 billion.
The privately held Atlanta-based paper, packaging and building products company says it reached a deal to buy all of Buckeye's common stock for $37.50 per share. The price represents a 25 percent premium over Buckeye's Tuesday closing stock price. Its shares are trading at that price as the markets open.
Memphis, Tenn.-based Buckeye makes and markets specialty fibers and nonwoven materials made from wood and cotton.

Investment in Renewables Forecast to Triple

http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-MLIBEM07SXKX01-0ODEK5EPJ0OTHBV8JQ9SN3BE9F

The plunge in the cost of wind and solar power that bankrupted more than two dozen manufacturers is forecast to spur a tripling of investment in renewables by 2030 and to reduce the grip fossil fuels have on world energy supply.

Annual spending on clean-energy projects that don’t add to greenhouse-gas pollution may rise to $630 billion at the end of the next decade from $190 billion last year, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said in a report today. That’s 37 percent more than estimated in November 2011 and means renewables would account for half of all generation capacity by 2030.

Recognizing Economic Value of Natural Assets

http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2013/04/18/call-to-action-on-recognizing-the-true-value-of-nature

More and more countries are putting natural assets like clean water, forests and other ecosystems into the center of their economic decision-making, a High-level Ministerial Dialogue on Natural Capital Accounting, on the eve of the World Bank-IMF Spring Meetings, heard today. 
Over 25 ministers and vice-ministers of finance, development and environment attended the Dialogue – which convened the `first-movers’ of Natural Capital Accounting (NCA). This is a group of more than 60 countries committed to supporting NCA to move beyond GDP as the main measure of an economy’s progress.

The Atlantic to Launch a Paid Online Product

http://www.minonline.com/news/22257.html

The Atlantic Monthly Group will release some form of paid content product online in the coming weeks President Justin Smith said at a conference in New York last week. On a panel of publishers that included News Corp. and MLB, Smith said that the plan was to explore every kind of business model and monetization method for digital. “To see the ad model is going to win over the pay model is foolish,” he said. Adding to the chorus of support for paid content online was President and CEO of MLB Advanced Media Bob Bowman who said, any publication out there should have a paid content product."
Interestingly, the Atlantic has proven to be among the most successful of magazines to make the transition to digital. It’s digital revenue was up 33% in 2012 and a substantial part of the company’s third year of profitability.

Niche Publications Surviving

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323735604578436903965435268.html

Even as print media churns through phases of collapse, revolution and rejuvenation, niche publications seem to pop up constantly. With tiny operations, they serve readers mad for things like home-brewed kale juice and exploring perspectives on contemporary art.

But this is all old hat for the Hudson Review, which has been blossoming with quarterly pages of poetry, fiction and criticism since 1948.

Bauer Suspends More Magazine

Bauer suspends More magazine as circulation drops below 100,000:
The magazine, printed by Polestar Bicester, has been running for 25 years but ran its last issue on Tuesday as its 22 staff entered a consultation period. The publisher will not decide whether to completely close the magazine until the consultation period has ended.

Folio: People On The Move

People On The Move | 4.24.13:
Timothy O'Brien has joined Bloomberg View as publisher. O'Brien was previously executive editor at The Huffington Post.
Frommer's has named Jason Cochran as its new editor-in-chief. Cochran joins the publication from AOL Travel where he was an executive editor.
Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg has been named as an executive producer at The Atlantic. She was previously an associate editor with the company.
The Association of Magazine Media (MPA) has promoted Ethan Grey to senior vice presient of digital strategy and initiatives. Grey was previously vice president of digital at MPA.
And more...

USPS Awards FedEx Air Cargo Network Contract

USPS Awards FedEx Air Cargo Network Contract: On April 23, 2013, the United States Postal Service awarded Federal Express Corporation (FedEx) a seven-year Air Cargo Network contract to provide domestic air transportation service for Priority and Express Mail. The current contract with FedEx ends in September 2013, and the new contract will begin in October 2013.

Postal Service Names VP Digital Solutions

The Postal Service Hires a Cop to Bust Down the Digital Door: How many entrenched old enterprises, confronted with their very mortality in the face of encroaching digital domination, would put one of their security chiefs in charge of innovation? That's exactly what the United State Postal Service did in appointing Deputy Chief Postal Inspector Randy Miskanic its new vice president of digital solutions.

Stora Enso Reports Q1, Plans Restructure

Stora Enso: "First quarter performance as expected - time to rethink structures": Stora Enso CEO Jouko Karvinen comments on first quarter 2013 results announced today:
“The first quarter of 2013 was, as expected, clearly characterised by weak markets and profitability for our Printing and Reading and Building and Living Business Areas. The combination of continuing structural decline in media-driven paper grades and economic weakness in Europe led to year-on-year declines of 9% in the Group’s operational EBITDA and 21% in operational EBIT despite the solid performance of the other two Business Areas. Seasonality also reduced the cash flow to an unsatisfactory level.

http://www.pulpapernews.com/2013/04/stora-enso-rethinks-business-structure-and-organisation

Stora Enso plans to launch a Group streamlining and structure simplification project intended to achieve annual fixed cost savings of EUR 200 million, including the earlier announced EUR 30 million in the Building and Living Business Area, with the full impact starting from the second quarter of 2014. The project is planned to include all Business Areas and corporate functions. In addition to reducing costs, the planned project would reduce interdependencies between businesses and enable a stronger focus on growth in value creating businesses.

Earth Day Request: Cut the Anti-paper Greenwashing!

http://twosidesus.wordpress.com/2013/04/21/my-earth-day-request-cut-the-anti-paper-greenwashing/

by Two Sides U.S 
I’ve had it with my bank and all the other companies that are bashing paper products to promote electronic billing, statements and other e-services.

It may come as a surprise to you but 8.4 million Americans make a living in the print, paper and mail value chain that generates 1.3 trillion in revenues (EMA 2012 Job Study).  I bet you’re getting a lot of this money in your coffers.

About 10 million Americans own private forestland (US Forest Service) and many of them rely on the income from their properties to make a living (ex: lumber for construction and pulp used for papermaking – yes PAPER)...
I believe we are the ones saving forests for the long-term by managing them responsibly and making sure our society can benefit from forest products (like paper) that are highly renewable, highly recyclable and store carbon for their useful life.  These inherent environmental features make paper quite a sustainable product compared to all the other things that surround us, including electronics...
It’s time to gather your marketing team in a room and tell them to stop greenwashing the millions of people who earn a living from the print, paper, mail and forestry value chain.  Please focus your message on the true benefits of e-media: speed, convenience and maybe a few others.
Remember…we are your customers and most of us care about the environment just as much as you do.
Now it’s time for me to shut down my computer and cell phone for the day and go for a walk in the forest.  Happy Earth Day!

Wausau Brokaw Site Sold

http://www.waow.com/story/22044452/2013/04/22/ex-wausau-paper-mill-in-brokaw-sold-again

The former Wausau Paper mill in Brokaw has been sold again.

Niagara Worldwide LLC and its subsidiary Brokaw Development said Monday it sold the 50-acre site for an undisclosed amount.

Don Jacobsmeyer, director of real estate for Niagara Worldwide, said Brokaw Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of B & B Metals, a metal scrap company located near Manitowoc owned by Bob Burrows, purchased the property.

Mohawk Names Names VP Sales

Mohawk, North America's largest privately-owned manufacturer of fine papers, envelopes and specialty substrates for commercial and digital printing, is pleased to announce three management promotions and two new hires.
Melissa Stevens has been promoted to Vice President, Sales. Previously, Director of Sales, Strategic Accounts and Sales Process Improvement, Stevens will continue to manage and develop Mohawk's sales force, driving new initiatives and developing new market opportunities. Stevens holds a BS in Business & Marketing from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and is currently pursuing her MBA. She joined Mohawk in 2004 as Specification Sales Representative in the New England Region.
Michelle A. Carpenter has been promoted to Vice President, Environmental and Energy Stewardship. Beth Reardon has been promoted to Regional Sales Manager, Midwest.

Resolute Thunder Bay Curtails Production as Union Votes "No"

http://www.chroniclejournal.com/content/news/local/2013/04/23/layoffs-ahead-resolute-pulp-mill

Resolute to curtail Thunder Bay, ON, newsprint and pulp mill for two weeks starting Apr. 24, as it looks to contract out jobs.

CEP union rejects proposal from Resolute Forest Products to eliminate jobs through contracting out

Members of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada Local 39 have voted down a proposal from Resolute Forest Products to eliminate jobs through contracting out. The employer has identified 42 jobs across the mill which they have decided to contract out, including newsprint shipping, kraft shipping, garage maintenance and bark inventory and handling.

Resolute Forest Products were under CCAA protection until 2010, and the plan of arrangement to exit this protection contained a new collective agreement which reduced wages by 10%, required employees to pay the premium costs for their short term disability plan, and a reduction in vacation pay.

Haute Time Moves from Digital to Print

After Launching in Digital, Haute Time Rolls Out Print Mag:  Courting a digital audience before introducing a print product is becoming a much more common practice by content publishers, and a strategy that new enthusiast magazine Haute Time is betting on. The new 50,000-circ, biannual pub launched on Monday and is hoping to tap the power of social, celebrity and digital as a blueprint for success.
In April 2012 Haute Media Group introduced a group of niche sites focused on the luxury consumer demographic as a spin off to its Haute Living magazine; the media network includes sites HauteTime, HauteAuto, HauteResidence, HauteYatchs and HauteFashionDaily.

Advanstar Debuts Online Marketplace

Advanstar life sciences group debuts online marketplace: Media company Advanstar Communications' life sciences group has launched the Pharmaceutical Technology and BioPharm International Marketplace.

Home Depot Surveys SMBs on Green Products

http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130422-906414.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

The survey of more than 1,000 small business owners found that more than one-third of those surveyed (36 percent) would pay a higher initial cost for greener office products if they would generate long-term savings. Eighty-four percent say they would purchase the "green" office product over the comparable regular office product if the two were equally priced.

Ebay Fighting Online Tax Bill

http://mashable.com/2013/04/22/ebay-enlists-users-to-fight-tax-plan/

EBay is calling on some 40 million of its users to fight a national legislation that would give states the power to collect sales tax from out-of-state online retailers. 
John Donahoe, eBay's CEO, sent the first of the emails out Sunday morning. The message, aimed at users and sellers in eBay's Marketplace, charges that the proposed legislation, known as the Marketplace Fairness Act, would burden small entrepreneurs. The Act, which the Senate may vote on this week, applies to businesses with more than $1 million in out-of-state revenues. Donahoe argues that the threshold should be $10 million in revenues or 50 or more employees, which would apply to only large online retailers, like Amazon. 

Amazon supports the bill, a spokesman told The Wall Street Journal. Reps from Amazon could not be reached for further comment. The National Retail Federation is also in favor of the measure.

Departures Launches Home + Design

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/departures-launches-home-design-spinoff-148581

Further evidence of the strength of luxury advertising in an otherwise slumping ad market, Departures this month is launching Home + Design, a one-off issue that will be delivered to half a million subscribers—otherwise known as American Express Platinum and Centurion cardholders—with their Culture Issue.

Condé Nast Expands Private Exchange Efforts

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/cond-nast-cracks-door-wider-its-private-exchange-148822

Condé Nast, having cracked open the door to programmatic buying two years ago, has swung it open a little more.

The traditional magazine powerhouse raised some eyebrows a couple years ago when it created a private ad market to sell its online ad inventory. In so doing, Condé Nast believed it could have it both ways: The company could take advantage of advertisers' growing demand for automated buying while putting a velvet rope around its content to keep out unseemly advertisers (and keep pricing palatable).
Now, it's decided to go a step further, making premium inventory on individual brands like VanityFair.com and GQ.com available along with the brand-nonspecific "Condé Nast inventory" already available.

Email Pioneer: USPS Essential

http://www.dmnews.com/email-pioneer-says-the-united-states-postal-service-must-survive/article/290101/

One of the people responsible for the proliferation of electronic mail, a man truly hailed as one of the “Fathers of the Internet,” told attendees at Postal Vision 2020 today that he considers the United State's Postal Service's brand of physical delivery as fundamental to a democratic society.

Semper Print Industry Survey Released

Semper Print Industry Survey Reports Largest Drop in Profitability in 12-Year History of Survey.:Semper International, the leading placement firm for skilled help in the graphic arts and printing industry, announces its print Industry Insight survey has seen a sharp decrease in profitability compared to last quarter.
Highlights:
51 percent of companies surveyed reported a profitable Q1. This represents a 28-point decrease over last quarter.
13 percent of companies expect sales to decrease through the remainder of Q2, 2013 while 47 percent hope for an increase.
The vast majority of respondents indicated that hiring levels will remain the same. Compared to 5 percent of companies in the previous quarter, 11 percent are planning to reduce their staffs. -->

Quad/Graphics Equipping New Facility

Quad/Graphics presses deeper into New Berlin:
Quad/Graphics has begun installing equipment in what will be its second New Berlin facility, a 205,063-square-foot industrial building at 5600 S. Moorland Road. The facility, which will operate around the clock seven days a week, will open in late May. It will mainly serve as a mail sorting center, a commingling plant that will combine letter-size mail from multiple customers into one mail stream to take advantage of greater postal savings from presorting, said Claire Ho, Quad/Graphics spokeswoman. The sorting will help support the company's direct mail division.

'Do not track' Congressional Hearing Scheduled

'Do not track' congressional hearing set for April 24: Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) plans to hold a hearing on Wednesday, April 24, on the advertising industry's use of behavioral tracking data and the state of do not track standards.