Communisis back on track

COMMUNISIS, the Leeds-based printing group, confirmed today that its business was performing in line with expectations following re-organisation.

The group, which is one of the UK's leading print and print management firms, reported that it grown a number of major customer relationships and that improvements in efficiency and waste reduction at its Leeds facility had been achieved.

Earlier this year Communisis admitted that it had been a mistake to close its Altrincham site and merge production with another Leeds operation.

Since then, it has implemented an efficiency programme which has seen the firm take £1.6m of costs out of the printing operation, increase the speed of its presses, and reduce the management team by 30%.

In its trading statement the group said that it had now moved on to the second stage of its restructuring strategy and had begun selling higher margin added value services to its customers in an effort to stem declining margins in the commodity parts of its business.

In September Communisis reported a 43% increase in operating profits to £4m in the six months to June 30 after exceptional restructuring costs.

Its customer base includes major banks and retailers including Barclays, Debenhams, Tesco, HSBC and Marks & Spencer.