North America

The stakes are high for the nation's biggest paper-making state: The ownership uncertainties have cropped up at a precarious moment when demand for coated printing-grade paper is on the latest leg of a sharp multiyear, digitally driven decline, sparking speculation of a renewed round of mill shutdowns.

Verso Paper this year announced it wants to acquire NewPage Holdings in a deal that would combine the two biggest coated paper producers in North America—raising questions about what the merged company would do with its new excess capacity.

Staples' shares fell 9 percent before the bell, after the company also posted lower-than-expected fourth-quarter results and forecast current-quarter profit below analysts' estimates.

Staples' revenue fell 10.6 percent to $5.87 billion in the fourth quarter ended Feb. 1, below the average analyst estimate of $5.97 billion. Excluding the impact of an extra week in the year-earlier quarter, sales declined 4 percent.

Same-store sales in North America, excluding sales through Staples.com, fell 7 percent as Staples sold fewer business machines, technology accessories, office supplies and computers.

Imagine! Print Solutions in Minneapolis, has installed an HP Indigo WS6000 digital press, expanding its label and packaging offering. "We spent a considerable amount of time investigating this acquisition and found the HP Indigo delivers the high quality, high speed and smaller runs customers demand," stated Bob Lothenbach, president.

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