Printing Trends

Chief Economist Mads Lindegaard from Grakom presenting a new financial analysis over the Danish Printing Industry.

The Danish Federation of Printers, Grakom, today presented a new analysis over the state of the Danish Printing Industry. The presentation was made by Chief Economist Mads Lindegaard and was based on publicly available annual reports, research on various websites, along with calculations and other statistical information. The federation represents a large percentage of all printers in the Danish printing industry and therefore the numbers, of course, are representative of the industry. 

The analyses were based on numbers from 2017 to 2018, and in that period the profit before tax decreased with a shocking 64%. The revenue, however, 'only' decreased with 6%. How these numbers can be interpreted became a discussion among the about 25 people at the event. Paper prices increases during the period, but the reference papers used, are not representative for the actual consumption of paper, Key Account Manager Michael W. Christensen from Antalis said. He claimed that the price on mat-coated paper, that are used the most, haven't changed significantly over the past many many years.

Discussing industry figures is, of course, always interesting. However, the differences in the companies in the report are, in my opinion, way to different to compare. One example. One of the slides was about development in hourly salaries for different types of work. If you see a development in hourly salaries with a 10% increase this, of course, has to be compared to what percentage that particular type of employee consumes of the total salary. 

The Swedish Federation of Printers also used publicly available financial numbers of up to 2.000 companies over a seven years period, and delivered together with BISNODE an index indicating the relative added value to a relation between capital cost and salary. To me, a logic that seems easier to use for comparison.

The presentation was good and bad. Of course, Mads Lindegaard knows his details, but what I personally missed was a more detailed analysis of what the data can be used for. Some of the data are also based on surveys conducted among members, and these showed a slightly positive faith in the future - not only on the growth areas you would suggest but also commercial print. This led to a new discussion, and yes, your humble editor, participated in this trying to understand the underlying logic. 

To grow your business, or to change it from one to another, you need to have background data understanding from where you come from and where you are going. This presentation gave a quite good understanding on where the industry is in Denmark, but it didn't provide many ideas for where the industry is heading - not based on the numbers, and absolutely nothing based on where the International printing business is moving.

If you are a printer and consider where to go, I highly suggest to read about New Print, watch the film with Grafiska Företagen - see the two links below here - and even participate in some of the international trade-shows where you will get a much deeper insight in the trends.

Ravindra Parasnis · Grafiska Företagen · 2nd

Ravindra Parasnis · Grafiska Företagen · 1st