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Gunns has reported a 98.7 per cent plummet in profits in its half year results to $400,000, compared with $22m in the second half of 2009. The troubled company says its woodfibre business was severely impacted by the strong Australian dollar and declining volumes.

With the European debut of Fujifilm'’s Acuity Advance HS taking place at the Sign & Digital UK 2010 show in April, Fujifilm New Zealand has signalled that it is looking forward to releasing this latest model very soon.

Len Murphy, who founded his own machinery company, has passed away after more than six decades of service to the New Zealand printing industry.

Fairfax Media’s print division profits in Australia and New Zealand dropped 19.5 per cent to $43.3m in the first half of 2009-10, however overall earnings for print were $57.6M, less than one per cent below the $58m reported the year before.

Plans for the 27th National Print Awards Presentation Dinner are now well under way, with well known media personalities Gorgi Coghlan and Larry Emdur confirmed as hosts for the gala dinner, which will be held at Sydney’s Darling Harbour on March 26.

The move to self-manufacture by brand owners is currently confined to PET and plastic beverage packaging however down the track it is likely to impact on films and flexibles and metal food cans, according to the Packaging Council of Australia (PCA). The Council says converters need to adapt and turn the changing landscape into opportunities for growth and rejuvenation.

Blue Star Print Group has reported earnings of NZ$20m for the first half of 2009-10, which represents a 163 per cent improvement on the six months ended June 30, 2009. However, this is still down on the pre-global financial crisis performance of NZ$27.6m for the six months ended 31 December 2008.

Printing Industries has launched a study to determine the current and future levels of industry interest in business and personal development through formal training programmes and qualifications.

Sydney-based print and graphic communications exhibition PrintEx is returning to the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour next year. Organisers say spaces for the event, which was last held in 2007, are currently on sale and the event is predicted to be a sell out.

Organisers say that the 10^th annual SWUG (Single Width Users Group) annual conference, which it deferred in 2009, will take place at the Wairakei Resort, Taupo on from October 13-15, following the PrintNZ conference, which takes place from October 11-13 at the same venue.

Fujifilm Australia has introduced the new Acuity Advance HS large format UV inkjet printer to market which the company claims is the latest breakthrough in wide format UV digital imaging technology. The Advance HS will sit alongside the Acuity Advance and Advance X2 printers in Fujifilm’s printer line-up.

Adhesive and film manufacturer 3M has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in Japanese label producer A-One’s branded consumer and office label business and related operations. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

CPI’s net profit dropped 4.2 per cent to $2.04m for the first half of 2009-10 while earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) fell 27.6 per cent to $4.2m. The Australian paper giant says trading conditions remain difficult with volumes still below the levels two years ago.

At Ipex, industry supplier technotrans outlines it will be giving visitors the opportunity to consider remote control via the internet in hand with a service agreement. The company says service agreements enable printers to have regular preventative maintenance and repair work done to known and predictable costs.

It appears that the B2 format sheet fed digital press may be the Holy Grail for press manufacturers. In the 1990s Indigo regularly brought a mock up of a future B2 format press to the different trade shows.

While Amcor’s profits rose three per cent to A$172.5m in the first half of 2009-10, the packaging giant’s sales dropped 15.6 per cent to A$4.08bn. The company claims that although economic conditions in Australia improved during the July to December 2009 period, they remain weaker than the same period last year.

As entries for Pride In Print head into their last week, organisers and patrons are doing all they can to assist anyone trying to put forward work for the competition.

Artarmon-based printer The Printing Department, has gone into voluntary administration. Meanwhile, digital printer Rapid Digital also in Artarmon has also gone into voluntary administration, however management told Australian Printer they are still printing as usual.

Fyshwick-based print shop New Millennium Print (NMP) has recently installed a Komfi Delta laminating machine which has enabled the company to keep its latest service, cello glazing, in house.

Streamline Press located in Fitzroy, VIC has installed an additional Agfa CTP device, which it claims gives it the capability to increase output capacity by a further 45 Goss Community plates per hour. The new :Advantage N-SA CTP with :VPP68 processor has been recently installed in addition to the existing Polaris CTP.