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Strategic Acquirers Open Up Financials for Sellers
By John Hyde - Tuesday May 21, 2013Could you imagine buying a house and the seller asks to review your financial analysis showing how much money you’re going to make from the investment? Residential real estate practice would consider this an absurd request, instantly denied. The buyer is paying the agreed-upon price in full with cash at closing and the seller has no reason to pry into the buyer’s affairs. But in the crazy world of strategic M&A among privately-owned print, mail and graphics communications companies, seller due diligence into the buyer is hardly an exception. In fact, right now the NAPL M&A advisory team is handling three client matters each of which involves full disclosure by the buyer of the analysis that supports the transaction. One involves a $20... -
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...
