John Penhallow09.09.14
North American readers surely have more important things to worry about than Scotland’s referendum, but just to remind you that on Thursday, September 18 of this year, when Scots go to the polls to vote on independence – a “yes” vote will spell the end of a 300-year union, and the demise of the United Kingdom. That prospect is apparently not depressing Scotland’s label converters, several of whom have recently invested in new equipment. CV Labels, on Scotland’s West coast, is a case in point. Specializing in making PS labels to the pharmaceutical, healthcare, specialist food and drinks industries, CV Labels has just installed a second Nilpeter flexo press, to be used mainly for supplying its pharmaceutical customers. The company says it is the only Scottish label manufacturer to attain the coveted P.S. 9000:2011 pharmaceutical quality certified supplier status. The company also provides specialized substrates, security inks and encoded labels for blood transfusion bags, but does not neglect Scotland’s best-known export. Bruichladdich is a whisky which is easier to drink than to pronounce, and CV Labels designs and prints all the labels for this exclusive product from the Isle of Islay, which will no doubt continue to be exported worldwide – whichever way the independence vote goes.
An almost forgotten corner of Europe
Moldova is a country that is rarely in the news. Readers of L&NW will know that it is uncomfortably sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine, and that its Eastern part is Russian-speaking and has set up what is virtually a separate state. Both parts of Moldova are dirt-poor, with a GDP per capita fractionally over $2000, putting it to the bottom of the European league. It is in this unpromising environment that the Taiwanese label press maker Orthotec has succeeded in doing business: its customer Papfin, which prints mainly wine labels, is now using an Orthotec offset press with a hot-stamping unit, and is said to be negotiating for a second press from the same manufacturer. Moldova’s recent (and rare) excursion into the European headlines was when, in the teeth of Russian opposition, it signed two major trade agreements with the European Union. Russia promptly banned the import of Moldovan wine, but Moldovan wine growers and government officials see bright prospects for wine exports to Central and Western Europe, particularly as the EU is funding investment projects to modernize the culture, packing and distribution of Moldova’s wine sector. The European Investment Bank (EIB) has helped to finance many wine-related projects in Moldova (including Papfin’s latest purchase), and there are believed to be several other local label converters planning similar investments.
Opportunities from Indonesia to Jordan
With the elections behind it and a (hopefully) business-friendly president now in office, Indonesia is a country to watch. Italian press manufacturer Nuova Gidue did not wait for the results to sell a flexo label press to Multitech, a converter in Lippo Karawaci, a new town west of the capital, Jakarta. This is Gi-due’s second sales success in Indonesia, and the company’s founder and owner Federico d’Annunzio traveled to Jakarta to give a presentation at the Label Summit held there in June of this year.
Gidue has now had a successful sale in an unlikely place: Jordan. The buyer is Digital Labels in the capital, Amman, and this will be its fourth purchase of a Gidue press, and one of the first of the new generation of REVO models to be sold. In the small Jordanian market, Digital Labels has to offer a wide range of products, including pressure sensitive labels, supported and unsupported films, DPVC, BOPP and OPP for shrink sleeves, wraparound labels, barrier films and pouches, and finds the Gidue presses ideal thanks to their ability to run on a wide range of substrates, according to General Manager Amer Sabha.
Nuova Gidue is also the kingpin of a group of companies working together to develop what they call the “REVO Digital Flexo Revolution,” which aims to marry the advantages of flexo and digital technologies. According to d’Annunzio, who developed REVO in partnership with suppliers of prepress, inks, plates, anilox rolls and inspection equipment, REVO “will win against digital on run lengths as low as 250 meters.”
Filling and labeling bottles
When it comes to making equipment for filling and labeling bottles, Germans are at the top of the European league (they are also good at emptying them, but that’s another story). Two companies dominate: Krones and KHS. The latter company has just published some very flavorful statistics for its latest fiscal year. Sales were up by 4% and smashed through the psychologically important barrier of one billion euros. Pre-tax profit, at €11 million ($15 million) was modest, but order taking was up by over 11% which bodes well for this year’s business. In its annual report, KHS singles out its labeling equipment division as particularly successful. However, the same report also gives prominence to KHS’ new technology for direct printing onto PET bottles, “which promises cost savings by eliminating the need for labels.” Hmm.
Change of course for Mark Andy in Europe
Mark Andy’s track record in continental Europe has not always been as successful as in other world markets. Fluctuations in the $/€ exchange rate have not helped over the years – although today the weaker dollar (or stronger euro if you prefer) is giving a competitive edge to US exporters. The company opened a big, new demo center at its European headquarters in Basle, Switzerland, in 2006, then closed it down entirely last year when it shifted its European base to Macclesfield in Northern England.
Mark Andy has up to now preferred to employ its own sales force in the major European markets, but has just announced a change of strategy for the German-speaking parts of the continent. From now on, sales and service in Northern Germany will be handled by the company Graphic Team, Frankfurt, and Print Concept Grafische Maschinen will handle southern Germany, Austria and the German speaking parts of Switzerland from its headquarters close to Stuttgart. In an interview with journalist Nick Coombes, Mark Andy’s European Sales Manager Timo Donati explained the change in strategy: “We have long seen huge growth opportunities in the German and German-speaking markets of Europe but up to now have never exploited its potential,” Business in France, where Mark Andy has its own sales subsidiary, is rumored to be also under scrutiny, but so far no changes have been announced.
Surprising upturn in French label market
With French GDP growth hovering around the zero mark, business morale in August was at an all-time low – or would have been if most businessmen had not been relaxing in their seaside or mountain retreats. However few French label converters were closed for holidays, and new investments – particularly in digital presses – are continuing at a high level. The Xerox group recently acquired French inkjet press specialist Impika, and opened a new production and research center in Aubagne, on the Mediterranean; Domino, a newcomer to the narrow web inkjet business, reports excellent growth in France including a sale to label and packaging giant Autajon. Epson is also bullish about France, where it has installed 12 presses in the past two years.
A report just out on the French PS label market covering the top 100 converters shows average sales up by 4% in 2013, and employment up by 6%. The market continued to become more concentrated, thanks both to natural growth and to acquisitions. Market leader Autajon saw a 5% rise in the 2013 sales of its French PS label division, to €107 ($143 million), giving it a market share of around 10%, and CCL also slightly increased its percentage of the market. Homegrown converters with good sales results included the Barat group ($34 million), with plants in the Burgundy, Bordeaux and Champagne regions (no prizes for guessing what labels they specialize in), and the Groupe Le Mee with a strong regional presence in Western France. For the Stratus group, 2013 was a year of consolidation, and sales were steady at $49 million, but pre-tax profit, despite strong competitive pressure on margins, was a healthy 7%. France’s smaller, single-site label converters also showed good results: 47% of those covered by the study showed sales increases of over 5%. As for profitability, the situation was also much improved over the previous year, with one-tenth of those sampled declaring pre-tax profits of more than 10% of sales.
Labor productivity is a source of concern in France, particularly as it is often compared with the higher performance of German companies. For the French PS label sector the median sales per employee in 2013 was €160,000 ($215,000), slightly down on 2012. Interestingly, there was no statistical correlation between plant size and productivity, so in the label business, economies of scale do not seem to be operating as economists would predict. For next year’s annual report, it is planned to extend the coverage to Germany and maybe also – if that country still exists - to the United Kingdom.
An almost forgotten corner of Europe
Moldova is a country that is rarely in the news. Readers of L&NW will know that it is uncomfortably sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine, and that its Eastern part is Russian-speaking and has set up what is virtually a separate state. Both parts of Moldova are dirt-poor, with a GDP per capita fractionally over $2000, putting it to the bottom of the European league. It is in this unpromising environment that the Taiwanese label press maker Orthotec has succeeded in doing business: its customer Papfin, which prints mainly wine labels, is now using an Orthotec offset press with a hot-stamping unit, and is said to be negotiating for a second press from the same manufacturer. Moldova’s recent (and rare) excursion into the European headlines was when, in the teeth of Russian opposition, it signed two major trade agreements with the European Union. Russia promptly banned the import of Moldovan wine, but Moldovan wine growers and government officials see bright prospects for wine exports to Central and Western Europe, particularly as the EU is funding investment projects to modernize the culture, packing and distribution of Moldova’s wine sector. The European Investment Bank (EIB) has helped to finance many wine-related projects in Moldova (including Papfin’s latest purchase), and there are believed to be several other local label converters planning similar investments.
Opportunities from Indonesia to Jordan
With the elections behind it and a (hopefully) business-friendly president now in office, Indonesia is a country to watch. Italian press manufacturer Nuova Gidue did not wait for the results to sell a flexo label press to Multitech, a converter in Lippo Karawaci, a new town west of the capital, Jakarta. This is Gi-due’s second sales success in Indonesia, and the company’s founder and owner Federico d’Annunzio traveled to Jakarta to give a presentation at the Label Summit held there in June of this year.
Gidue has now had a successful sale in an unlikely place: Jordan. The buyer is Digital Labels in the capital, Amman, and this will be its fourth purchase of a Gidue press, and one of the first of the new generation of REVO models to be sold. In the small Jordanian market, Digital Labels has to offer a wide range of products, including pressure sensitive labels, supported and unsupported films, DPVC, BOPP and OPP for shrink sleeves, wraparound labels, barrier films and pouches, and finds the Gidue presses ideal thanks to their ability to run on a wide range of substrates, according to General Manager Amer Sabha.
Nuova Gidue is also the kingpin of a group of companies working together to develop what they call the “REVO Digital Flexo Revolution,” which aims to marry the advantages of flexo and digital technologies. According to d’Annunzio, who developed REVO in partnership with suppliers of prepress, inks, plates, anilox rolls and inspection equipment, REVO “will win against digital on run lengths as low as 250 meters.”
Filling and labeling bottles
When it comes to making equipment for filling and labeling bottles, Germans are at the top of the European league (they are also good at emptying them, but that’s another story). Two companies dominate: Krones and KHS. The latter company has just published some very flavorful statistics for its latest fiscal year. Sales were up by 4% and smashed through the psychologically important barrier of one billion euros. Pre-tax profit, at €11 million ($15 million) was modest, but order taking was up by over 11% which bodes well for this year’s business. In its annual report, KHS singles out its labeling equipment division as particularly successful. However, the same report also gives prominence to KHS’ new technology for direct printing onto PET bottles, “which promises cost savings by eliminating the need for labels.” Hmm.
Change of course for Mark Andy in Europe
Mark Andy’s track record in continental Europe has not always been as successful as in other world markets. Fluctuations in the $/€ exchange rate have not helped over the years – although today the weaker dollar (or stronger euro if you prefer) is giving a competitive edge to US exporters. The company opened a big, new demo center at its European headquarters in Basle, Switzerland, in 2006, then closed it down entirely last year when it shifted its European base to Macclesfield in Northern England.
Mark Andy has up to now preferred to employ its own sales force in the major European markets, but has just announced a change of strategy for the German-speaking parts of the continent. From now on, sales and service in Northern Germany will be handled by the company Graphic Team, Frankfurt, and Print Concept Grafische Maschinen will handle southern Germany, Austria and the German speaking parts of Switzerland from its headquarters close to Stuttgart. In an interview with journalist Nick Coombes, Mark Andy’s European Sales Manager Timo Donati explained the change in strategy: “We have long seen huge growth opportunities in the German and German-speaking markets of Europe but up to now have never exploited its potential,” Business in France, where Mark Andy has its own sales subsidiary, is rumored to be also under scrutiny, but so far no changes have been announced.
Surprising upturn in French label market
With French GDP growth hovering around the zero mark, business morale in August was at an all-time low – or would have been if most businessmen had not been relaxing in their seaside or mountain retreats. However few French label converters were closed for holidays, and new investments – particularly in digital presses – are continuing at a high level. The Xerox group recently acquired French inkjet press specialist Impika, and opened a new production and research center in Aubagne, on the Mediterranean; Domino, a newcomer to the narrow web inkjet business, reports excellent growth in France including a sale to label and packaging giant Autajon. Epson is also bullish about France, where it has installed 12 presses in the past two years.
A report just out on the French PS label market covering the top 100 converters shows average sales up by 4% in 2013, and employment up by 6%. The market continued to become more concentrated, thanks both to natural growth and to acquisitions. Market leader Autajon saw a 5% rise in the 2013 sales of its French PS label division, to €107 ($143 million), giving it a market share of around 10%, and CCL also slightly increased its percentage of the market. Homegrown converters with good sales results included the Barat group ($34 million), with plants in the Burgundy, Bordeaux and Champagne regions (no prizes for guessing what labels they specialize in), and the Groupe Le Mee with a strong regional presence in Western France. For the Stratus group, 2013 was a year of consolidation, and sales were steady at $49 million, but pre-tax profit, despite strong competitive pressure on margins, was a healthy 7%. France’s smaller, single-site label converters also showed good results: 47% of those covered by the study showed sales increases of over 5%. As for profitability, the situation was also much improved over the previous year, with one-tenth of those sampled declaring pre-tax profits of more than 10% of sales.
Labor productivity is a source of concern in France, particularly as it is often compared with the higher performance of German companies. For the French PS label sector the median sales per employee in 2013 was €160,000 ($215,000), slightly down on 2012. Interestingly, there was no statistical correlation between plant size and productivity, so in the label business, economies of scale do not seem to be operating as economists would predict. For next year’s annual report, it is planned to extend the coverage to Germany and maybe also – if that country still exists - to the United Kingdom.