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3D Printing Will Have No Effect on Business Valuations for the 28,000 Companies in the Print, Mail and Graphics Communications Industry
By John Hyde - Monday May 6, 20133D Printing will have no effect on business valuations of print, mail, and graphics communications companies—for the foreseeable future. Simply, owners and senior managers of privately-owned print providers will need to look elsewhere than 3D Printing for growth. This technology may someday be relevant and perhaps even “disruptive,” but today it has zero relevance to the 28,000 or so companies in the domestic USA that operate within the $80 billion printing industry. A recent visit to the Inside 3D Printing Conference and Expo at New York’s Jacob Javitz Convention Center served as my foray into 3D Printing. The word “3D” next to the word “Printing” sparked my interest, knowing that my clients among privately-owned... -
3 Lessons Learned from Succession Plan at Kingery Corporation
By John Hyde - Monday April 22, 2013The recent NAPL News Talk Live program on Exit Strategy had an M&A-orientation because “sale of business” has overtaken “gifting to children” as the roadmap of choice in the print, mail and graphics communications industry. The one panelist on the webinar who implemented a non- M&A succession plan is John Kingery, Chairman of Kingery Printing Corporation. Succession planning was the farthest thing from John Kingery’s mind until a day in 1991 when he realized that the government would end up with substantial wealth that otherwise would go to his family. Simply, Kingery Printing had become too profitable to risk passing away without a plan for minimizing estate taxes. The roots of Kingery Printing can be traced to a... -
3 Ways to Get a Better Night's Sleep
By John Hyde - Friday April 5, 2013
If you own a company in the printing, mail, and graphics communications industry, you probably know someone who is near the end of survivability or you’re treading water yourself these days. If neither of these apply to you, skip “Last Chance” and go to “Planning”. Last Chance: For owners who wake up at night worrying that their business is circling the proverbial drain, here are 3 critical factors that can make a difference in the quality of whatever outcome takes place over the next few days/weeks/month(s): 1. Connect with friendly local competitors; despite what you may think, they are the most likely candidates to buy assets and hire you (and some of your people) 2. Be open minded and rely heavily on a trusted advisor... -
Remembering "Acquiring Sales Without the Baggage" — 10 Years Later
By John Hyde - Tuesday March 5, 2013Remarkably, it’s 10 years ago this month that I was invited to speak at the NAPL Top Management Conference on the topic of “Acquiring Sales Without the Baggage”. Reflecting on “then” and “now”, royalty transactions in 2003 were a negative backwater of printing industry M&A. They grew in popularity from 2003 to 2006, and were literally the only game in town until 2011. We’ve seen a return to EBITDA-based transactions since then, and our M&A practice has also seen cases in which investment paradigm such as ROI or cash yield on investment has worked their way into recent negotiations. n 2003, we were coming off the internet boom and blowback from the wave of consolidations that had shook up the landscape of the print and... -
Transaction Concepts for Acquiring Print and Graphics Communications who have Multiple Partners (Part Two)
By John Hyde - Monday February 4, 2013The dynamics of family-owned and entrepreneurial companies raise unique challenges for strategic acquirers. This is the second blog post in a series of 3 that offers several transaction concepts for acquiring print and graphics communications companies who have multiple partners. The CEO of the potential acquirer is disappointed that, for whatever reason, the deal has stalled after promising early talks. It’s been weeks since he/she brought up the idea of buying all or substantially all assets of the business so that each partner gets a fair deal based on objective criteria ( “Plan A” ). The lead partner of the seller “comes clean” and admits that the partners are not on the same page about whether and how to sell the...
