Printing.com goes Dutch as sales falter

HIGH Street printer Printing.com has bought a Dutch business for £1.7m as it seeks to expand into international markets.

The Manchester group, which has 291 shops, made the announcement as it reported figures for the six months to September.

Turnover dipped by 0.4% to £7.1m, but pre-tax profits fell 28% to £620,000, or by 18% to £710,000 after stripping out exceptional costs.

The company said performance across its UK-wide network was polarised with growth of nearly 6% around London and a sales contraction of 4.5% elsewhere. Trading since September has followed the same pattern. Overall UK trading volumes shrank by 2.6%.

The company said the strong performance in the south east reflected improved confidence within the small business community in that part of the country.

Printing.com has acquired Media Facility Group (MFG), which offers similar services, for £1.73m, with £865,000 being paid in cash and the balance in shares. MFG’s latest accounts for the year to December 31 showed a profit of £12,000 on sales of £5.7m. It is based in Rotterdam and employs 25 staff.

Following the acquisition MFG’s 28-year-old managing director Hans Scheffer is joining Printing.com’s board.

Chief executive Tony Rafferty said: “We’re looking forward to working with our new partners at MFG to establish a pre-eminent position in the Dutch marketplace. This provides an excellent opportunity for Printing.com to further exploit its intellectual property within the euro zone.”

The board is proposing to maintain the interim dividend at 1.05p to be paid on December 10.