Printweek – 2024 in review: March

Four well-known industry names – Julian Marsh, Adrian Stark, Alan Rigglesford and Luke Jennings – set up a new business, CPW Solutions… The former Gardners operation in Cardiff, part of the troubled PFI Group, was resurrected under the ownership of Titchfield Group… Royal Mail announced that the price of both First Class and Second Class stamps would increase again… MacroArt was changing its branding to Moss, after its acquisition by US firm Moss Inc… Linda Boyes returned to the UK web offset market with a deal to reprise ‘Hanger One’ at the former York Mailing site through her new venture York Media… EBB enhanced its offering with the acquisition of Irish company Realt Paper… East of Scotland Colour Print expanded its reach into the Highlands with the acquisition of three printers in Inverness and Elgin… The brightest stars in the galaxy of print were celebrated in style at the Printweek Awards, with Solopress taking the Company of the Year gong… Aldi teamed with Frugalpac to introduce paper-based wine bottles… Sanderson Design Group struck a deal to expand the availability of products featuring the iconic designs of William Morris via a new e-commerce venture… The Delta Group was poised to install the world’s first Agfa SpeedSet Orca single-pass B1 inkjet press… Deliveries from Finnish paper mills were being affected by a strike at the country’s ports and freight network… Macfarlane Group acquired Allpack Packaging Supplies… The Royal National Institute of Blind People asked its supporters to help name its two new braille printers and embossers, with ‘Bill Brailey’ and ‘Dottie’ coming out as the winning names… PFI Group subsidiary Signmaster, which went under when its parent collapsed, was reprised under the ownership of Karen Kelly, who was project manager at the signage fabricator… Creation Reprographics completed a move into a new, 3,700sqm state-of-the-art facility… Brother Industries made a bid for Roland DG that looked set to upset a planned MBO… News UK and DMG Media got the green light from the Competition & Markets Authority to set up their newspaper printing JV… Precision Colour Printing was been put up for sale with several interested parties understood to be in the frame… UK Printing Company underwent a pre-pack sale to S43 Trading Limited, a new company set up by UKPC director Adam Robinson… Administrators of shuttered digital printer Severn Print revealed the firm had an estimated deficiency of £3.5m when it entered administration… Indian print and packaging kit manufacturer and supplier Vinsak acquired Spanish web press machine manufacturer Rotatek…