Page 22 - PWM2025_APRIL EBOOK

NEWS GLOBAL

IN BRIEF Highcon’s German

Konica Minolta is selling
its Indicia Worldwide mar-
keting services business to investment deal
ADM Group. The deal is
subject to regulatory
approvals, which are
expected to take two-to- Highcon Systems had “As part of the cooperation
three months. The two business will subsequently merge, agreed a cooperation with a agreement, the company was
with the combined company to be headquartered in
London and serving more than 800 brands worldwide. ADM “leading global German com- expected to sell a number of
Group had sales of just under ¤394m (£329.6m) in its most pany” last summer that could machines before moving to
recent results, to 31 December 2023. It has offices in 33 have resulted in a substantial
countries, providing branding and marketing execution the investment phase.”
services to global brands. Konica Minolta Marketing Services number of sales and even an However, the ongoing
– born out of KM’s 2012 acquisition of Charterhouse PM – investment in the business. Highcon’s Beam device
has traded as Indicia Worldwide since 2020. The deal In filings related to its filing Israel-Hamas conflict and
encompasses three topcos in Europe, Australia and the US, had signed a cooperation global business jitters around
plus subsidiaries, giving a total of 26 companies worldwide. for bankruptcy protection,
The merged global footprint will involve 46 offices in 33 Highcon posted 2024 sales agreement with a “leading geopolitical events including
countries. global Germany company in President Trump’s trade tar-
up 117% at $18.2m
Print.Group, the holding (£13.8m), while the firm’s the sale of products for the iffs resulted in firm orders
company behind European loss from current operations packaging manufacturing being delayed.
B2B print platform Print. more than halved, at $10.8m industry”, with around 30 The Israeli manufacturer
com, has acquired soft- (2023 loss: $23.3m). sales people at the German of digital cutting and creasing
w a r e spe ci alist ISI
Publishing Innovators. Highcon documents stated firm involved with promot- kit had expected $10m-worth
Announced on 31 March, that on 3 July 2024 the firm ing sales of Highcon systems. of orders to land in Q1 2025.
the deal follows Print.
Group’s February acquisition of online printer Simian, AI personalisation tools
which included the brands Reclameland, Flyerzone and
Drukland, as well as Simian’s 23,000sqm production facil-
ity near Groningen in the Netherlands. Print.Group said the Moonpig expects to 27%. Sales last year were customer proposition and
latest deal would see the company expand its portfolio achieve sales of at least £341.1m. The group also sustained investments in
with various workflow and print management offerings, £350m in its current finan- announced plans for a fur- technology and data. “By
including brand portals, order portals, white-label shops cial year, with EBITDA prof- ther £60m share buyback using technology, data and
and a digital asset management (DAM) system. The group its at the top end of programme. Its inaugural six- AI, we help our customers
said it aimed to integrate these tools – which support users express themselves and con-
in areas such as sales, marketing and brand management expectations. In a trading month £25m share repur- nect with their loved ones,
– into Print.com, alongside existing integrations with statement issued on 3 April, chase programme currently deepening engagement and
offerings from Prindustry, Marvia, Multipress, JamesPro and the greeting card and gifting underway is expected to strengthening loyalty.”
Spicelab. giant said that sales for its complete by the financial He said that one in three
financial year ending 30 year-end. Valentine’s Day cards created
Long-standing carton
board converter Boardlink April were expected to be CEO Nickyl Raithatha said via Moonpig and Greetz fea-
has filed a Notice of between £350m-£353m, that AI personalisation tools tured at least one of the
Intention to Appoint while adjusted EBITDA were taking off. He com- group’s personalisation tools,
Administrators. The busi-
ness, based in Hawarden, margins will be at the top mented: “Our strong perfor- such as AI handwriting, or
Flintshire, was established end of guidance at 25%- mance reflects our unique audio and video messages.
in 1966 and was previously
known as Hawarden
Sheeters.The NOI was filed on 27 March. Boardlink’s core Royal Mail takeover timetable
product offering is carton board sales, conversion and lam-
ination, including display boards for point-of-sale. The
firm also lays claim to being the UK’s largest manufacturer The takeover deal for declared unconditional by 30
of paper plates and dual-ovenable paper trays. Paper plate Royal Mail parent April 2025.” The original
production capacity is 500m plates per year. Boardlink also International Distribution timetable was delayed
makes catering and janitorial wipes and cloths. The firm’s Services is expected to com- because of political unrest in
annual sheeting capacity is 45,000 tonnes and it runs a
bespoke 1.6m-wide carton board laminator that can bond plete at the end of this month Romania.
up to five substrates from reel to sheet. In its most recent – although a majority of A further update on
financial results, for 2023, privately owned Boardlink posted shareholders are yet to New ownership in 4 weeks acceptance levels stated that,
relatively stable sales, down 1.4% at £14.4m, and an oper- accept the offer. In an update as at 3.00pm on 2 April, EP
ating margin of 5.32%. It employed just under 70 people at for the offer resumed on 2
that time. The directors stated that destocking was a main IDS said that all of the regula- April. UK Bidco could count more
feature of the year, and had taken longer than most had tory conditions around EP “Subject to the satisfaction than 321m shares – repre-
predicted. “However, despite the resulting low demand UK Bidco’s recommended or waiver (as applicable) of senting 33.58% of IDS’
there is still strong requirement for plastic replacement. cash offer of 370p a share had issued share capital –
Once stock levels are under control demand will increase in the other conditions, it is cur-
line with underlying market requirements.” now been cleared. rently expected that the offer towards the acceptance con-
This means the timetable will become or will be ditions.

22 PrintWeek MENA April 2025 www.printweekmena.com