PUBLICATION PRINTING OUTLOOK --Challenging Issues

December 2002

multipage

BY MARK SMITH


There may not be a one-for-one correlation between the business outlook for publishers and the fortunes of publication printers, but the link is obvious. Also, the tough business environment has marketing gurus and industry executives evangelizing the need for printers of all types to "really get to know their customers" in order to succeed.

On the whole, it has been a mixed year for the magazine publishing segment. According to Publishers Information Bureau (PIB) data through September, advertising revenues in 2002 have been running 1.5 percent above 2001 totals. Unfortunately, especially for publication printers, the year-to-date ad pages total was down 6.6 percent from the same period last year. By comparison, advertising revenues for all of 2001 decreased 4.9 percent and ad pages dropped a whopping 11.7 percent.

Top 10 -- Publication Printers
 	Company	Segment Sales (millions)	Total Sales (millions)
1	Quebecor World Montreal	$1,638	$6,300
2	R.R. Donnelley Chicago	$1,112	$5,298
3	Quad/Graphics Pewaukee, WI	$648	$1,800
4	Brown Printing Waseca, MN	$307	$380
5	Cadmus Communications Richmond, VA	$295	$447

	Brown Printing		Cadmus Communications Corporation		Perry Judd's Inc.
	Publishers Press		Quad/Graphics		Quebecor World
	The Sheridan Group