Photobition USA Begins New Expansion Phase
LOS ANGELES—Having gained a foothold in North America with last year's acquisition of well-regarded New York City prepress powerhouse Katz Digital Technologies, Photobition USA, the American subsidiary of U.K.-based Photobition Group PLC, now seems on the threshold of another stage in its growth.
This summer, the company served notice to the industry that it was not simply resting on its laurels with the acquisition of Custom Color Services, based here, which provides photographic, scanning, mounting and laminating, large-format printing, and graphics products and services to a wide range of commercial clients in the media, cosmetic and financial industries.
"During the last two years we have established a New York presence in the U.S. graphics market," notes Eddie Marchbanks, Photobition's chairman and CEO.
"The acquisition of Custom Color now takes us to the West Coast and, significantly, allows us to service clients across the country. The development of our U.S graphics network is moving towards completion."
Incorporated in 1957, Custom Color primarily serves businesses in the Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties of California. With its acquisition of Newell Color in 1998, Custom Color officials say it became the largest provider of digital and photographic services in its market.
"As with all our acquisitions, we anticipate cross-referring products, services and clients between our existing and newly acquired businesses and offering extended geographic and national account coverage," adds Michael Sklar, Photobition USA president and COO.
The new acquisition follow closely on the heels of the company's expansion in the New York area: It is consolidating all three of its current New York locations into one centralized, 110,000-square-foot site in mid-Manhattan.
"Photobition's new site will be a state-of-the-art supershop, consolidating all our sales, customer service and production capabilities," explains Marchbanks
Officials say the the company will be able to further streamline its operations and service delivery in the new location. Under a new program promoting immediate customer assistance, each client has a designated representative, with full departmental back-up. Advanced billing functions and an automated telephone service are also being implemented.
