Business News
BUSINESS UPDATE THIRD QUARTER 2008
Wednesday 31. December 2008 - very difficult market, no sign of recovery MediaPartners Group divestment: inquiry continues
Business report
The influence of the financial crisis and the associated developments in the economy are making themselves felt in the market. Graphics businesses are among the first to feel the effects of a declining economy. This translates into order portfolios that just cannot be compared with the norm for the industry in the second half of the year. Once again this emphasises that radical consolidation is needed, both locally and throughout Europe, if we are to bring the industrys results back to a healthy level.
As we have already indicated, our decision to focus the group on printing activities led us this year to investigate the feasibility of divesting MediaPartners Group. The inquiry is continuing and we shall return to the matter at a later date.
Significant events
In September RSDB was disappointed to hear the announcement that HHBV had not been successful in funding its proposed bid, as a result of which the bid had to be called off.
To maintain its position in the market, RSDB will continue the phased modernisation of its printing plants. This is not aimed at achieving growth, but rather to stay fit in technological terms while continuing to supply the market with the quality it demands. As an example, the new production hall has been completed at Senefelder Misset in Doetinchem and the second phase of the sizeable investment programme has now been completed with the installation, in mid-October, of an adhesive binding train with 13 feeder stations, 2 gluing stations and a gross speed of 18,000 copies per hour. The third phase of the planned investment is to start early 2009 with the installation of a 72 page press to replace two obsolescent presses. SMD will then house under one roof all the disciplines needed for magazine production.
Furthermore, a contract was recently signed with Wifac for the purchase of a KBA sheet-fed press, format 110 x 160 cm, to be housed in the Roto Smeets GrafiServices plant in Eindhoven. There it will replace an obsolescent Jumbo press and another press of 70×100 cm format. At the same time, the prepress department is to be optimised with the installation of matching, new Kodak Computer to Plate equipment. These investments form part of RSDBs medium-term business plan for Roto Smeets GrafiServices. The same plan saw the installation in late 2007 in Eindhoven of a 70 x 100 cm Heidelberg XL 5 colour press with lacquer dispersion, and Heidelberg XL presses with lacquer dispersion at Roto Smeets GrafiServices Utrecht in 2007 and 2008.
All RSDB web and sheet-fed printing plants in the Netherlands are now certified under
ISO-12647-2 in both prepress and print shops. ISO 12647 is a very important standard in the printing industry, laying down practically all matters concerned with process control in the printing operation. This certification leads to better quality and efficiency, while increasing the interchangeability between our printing plants, allowing clients who have their printing done at multiple locations to be confident that their printing is done within an acceptable quality range.
We had already announced that RSDB Holding was to move from Hilversum to Deventer. The move has now been completed. As of 10 October our Head Office is established at Hunneperkade 17004, 7418 BT Deventer. Complete address details can be found on the website www.rsdb.com under the contact button.