Communisis upbeat

PRINTING and marketing communication group Communisis today said that trading during the first half of the year had hit forecasts and that its balance sheet remains strong with net debt better than management expectations.

The Leeds-based group said that plans to ‘re-purpose’ its Leeds Direct Mail business have progressed to schedule.

The new Hewlett Packard high-speed colour digital platform has now produced several live projects for customers and the plan to remove legacy printing equipment has been completed within budget, unlocking cost savings on an on-going basis, the group said.

Communisis also announced that it is changing the way it reports its results.

The group said: “We have been re-evaluating how we should report the group’s business to better reflect the company’s strategy and demand drivers. Reflecting the business model we have created, we will now report the business in two segments: Intelligence Driven Communications (IDC) and Specialist Production and Sourcing (SPS).

“Costs previously described as ‘central costs’ which comprised marketing, IT infrastructure, group procurement and group sales have now been allocated between the two operating segments – IDC and SPS.

“We have retained an element of central cost now classified as corporate costs as these represent the cost of our head office, main board and other plc related costs.”