Printers Need Customers, Communities Need Jobs

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From The Target Report: Troubled Times for Graphic Machinery Innovators, July 2024, M&A Activity: 

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“Viewed from the perspective of M&A activity in the printing, packaging, and

related graphic communication industries…deal counts are down again, bankruptcies and non-bankruptcy closures have increased, and lenders

have resumed pressuring poorly performing companies.” 

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From https://www.piworld.com/article/state-of-ma-market-commeercial-printing-industry,
July 2022:

 

“Gerald Whitlow, of Horizons Business Group says, ‘We see companies with

owners wanting to retire. There’s no succession plan within their business,

no family members, nobody within the company to take it over,’ Whitlow

says. ‘The owner wants to retire, cash out, and go on with their life. In every

deal we’re currently working on, the owner wants to retire.

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The turnover is the commercial printing industry, a mature manufacturing

sector that is naturally prone to consolidation as many of the companies

within it come to the ends of their life cycles. This creates opportunities

for other companies to grow by acquiring these firms.

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At some point, every commercial printing business will find itself either

a candidate for acquisition or a buyer of other businesses it can integrate

to create new value.

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In Whitlow’s opinion, financial turmoil could even work to the industry’s

advantage in terms of M&A’s. He explains that as private equity seeks safe

havens for its money outside the volatile stock market, a printing company

offering a smaller, but more predictable return becomes that much more

attractive as an investment opportunity.

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As Whitlow reflects, ‘It’s just been one punch after another for the last

15 years. As a business owner, it seems the times of smooth sailing are

like ancient memories in the 2000’s and the 1990’s.’”