St Ives sees no print recovery

30th Nov 2009 07:38

Printer St Ives' sales fell by a further 9% in the last 13 weeks compared to last year, though heavy cost-cutting maintained profitability in line with its targets.The book business continues to benefit from steady demand, though magazine volumes have shown no sign of improvement as pagination continues to be severely impacted by reduced advertising spend. Demand for point-of-sale products is holding up, helping to compensate for ongoing margin pressure and shorter notice periods for campaigns, the printer added. The industrial dispute at the Post Office have also meant some direct response advertising campaigns being disrupted."Overall, the economic outlook remains uncertain, a number of our customers have expressed caution with regard to the early part of the New Year and there are no signs yet of an underlying improvement in activity," it concluded.