23-11-2006 - Printing.com - Printing.com profits level off at £1m - Print Week
Franchising pioneer Printing.com has revealed plans to revamp its Agfa pre-press set-up at its Manchester hub as it eyes further international expansion.The firm is considering a move away from violet platesetters to a thermal set-up at the site, in an investment expected to total around £400,000.
Tony Rafferty, Printing.com chief executive, said: "A tender process has started with all the pre-press suppliers, including our current partner Agfa."
The overhaul follows the recent commissioning of the world's first Komori double-decker Lithrone 440SP at the site, which has increased its sales capacity to £40m-£45m.
News of the tender came as Printing.com published half-year results showing a 15.9% year-on-year increase in its network's total retail sales to £10.9m, giving the firm a turnover of £6.2m (-3.4%) and flat pre-tax profit of £1m.
Internationally, the group has secured its first overseas master licensee in New Zealand, which has adopted Printing.com's systems and software and now has three franchisees of its own.
Rafferty is also in talks with firms in Poland, France, Holland, Germany and the US over setting up the model in those countries. "They are very complex things to negotiate, but we're hopeful of being able to announce something by the end of the fiscal year," he said.
In the UK, the firm's bolt-on franchising model is also gathering pace. There are now 128 bolt-on franchises, compared to 91 a year ago.
Rafferty said: "We're talking to a lot of small, jobbing printers who might be running two-colour A3 kit but are realising that payback on an investment in four-colour is questionable."