A decent first half net profit of $29.2m, up four per cent on the same period last year, and a $43.1m tax settlement in its favour, have the management at the nation's biggest printer PMP looking on the acquisition trail again.
PMP grew its business by 5.6 per cent in the half year, achieving sales of $702m, with both printing and distribution recording growth. In addition the company secured several long term contracts pointing to a secure future.
It is only three months since PMP bought Victorian heatset operation Argylle Times Graphic, in a deal which gave Times' Asian owners an 11 per cent stake in PMP. This foothold into Asia, and a lack of heatset printers in Australia has led to speculation that PMP may be considering buying an overseas printer, following the growth strategies of Amcor and PaperlinX.
Brian Evans, CEO at PMP says, "The acquisition (of Times) gives us a strong relationship with Times' former parent, Times Publishing of Singapore, whose operations in Asia mirror PMP in many respects. We are actively exploring the potential for Asian based joint production facilities."
Australian heatset printers not owned by PMP include IPMG, AIW, Franklin Web, Webstar, Cadillac and Rotary Offset, of which only the latter would be considered as open to offers, but unlikely to be of interest to PMP.
