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04.17.2012
Catalyst Paper announced today that meetings of its secured and unsecured creditors to consider the plan of arrangement under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act have been changed from April 23, 2012 to May 2, 2012.
The rescheduled meetings will be held at the same location (Delta Vancouver Airport Hotel, 3500 Cessna Drive, Richmond, BC) at 10:00 am for unsecured creditors and 11:00 am for the First Lien Noteholders.
The court date to sanction and approve the plan of arrangement has also been rescheduled from April 25, 2012 to May 7, 2012.
The new dates were set to accommodate court scheduling issues with the original dates. The revised schedule will also provide court Monitor, PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. and Catalyst additional time to complete the accounting review and verification requirements associated with the creditor claims process. Claims must still be filed with the Monitor by 5 p.m. April 18, 2012.
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04.17.2012
Oil rose to the highest in two days in New York after Spain sold debt and a bigger-than-projected gain in U.S. retail sales.
Futures in New York also extended gains after advancing for a third time in four days yesterday on better German investor confidence data. Spain sold 12-month and 18-month bills a day after borrowing costs climbed to the highest level this year. Retail sales in the U.S. increased more than forecast in March as Americans snapped up everything from cars and furniture to clothes and electronics.
The Spanish debt auction helped boost oil prices, said Carsten Fritsch, analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt. “Apparently, the market expected much worse. But concerns will remain. Look at the much higher rates Spain needs to pay.” He predicts Brent will average $115 a barrel in May and June.
Crude for May delivery climbed as much as 77 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $103.70 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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04.17.2012
AOL will guarantee audience delivery for online video marketing campaigns across AOL's properties, said Charles Gabriel, VP of sales at AOL Video.
AOL's offering, powered by Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings (NOCR), has already launched with 10 brands. Gabriel declined to reveal the brands.
When advertisers purchase video ads aimed at a specific demographic, AOL guarantees 100% of the segment will be targeted. For a premium of the service's base price—between 20% to 50% depending on the desired target or more for a particularly niche segment—AOL validates the percentage of the audience actually hit and the advertiser only pays for the segment that was hit, Gabriel said.
“Lots of companies say they deliver audiences, but they're lucky if they hit 50%—yet they're still charging advertisers and saying it's a guarantee,” Gabriel said. “We're putting our money where our mouth is by guaranteeing [audiences] and if they don't hit the targeted audience, they don't pay for it.”
Additionally, if the campaign only hits 50% of the targeted audience that Nielsen validates, advertisers will get the reach of the other 50% of impressions free of charge.
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04.17.2012
Neenah Paper today announced the worldwide release of the Neenah Cabinet(TM) for iPad application (app) in Apple's App Store. This free app, optimized specifically for iPad, is designed to provide a way for Neenah customers to visually interact with all of Neenah's paper brands, making paper and envelope specification more convenient and creative.
iPad users will quickly learn how to navigate the Neenah Cabinet for iPad app, which has been described as intuitive in early feedback. Once users open the app, they can easily search paper and envelope options by brand color or envelope style. The iPad app features all of the Neenah Paper brands, including the full offering of the CLASSIC(R) Papers, ENVIRONMENT(R), SUNDANCE(R), ESSE(R), CRANE'S(R) and over two dozen more.
The Neenah Cabinet for iPad app is an off-shoot of Neenah Cabinet(TM) for Desktop, a robust and much more inclusive, technology-driven solution to view papers through Neenah's NEW eSwatchbook platform with intuitive waterfalls. With the Cabinet for Desktop, designers can order Personal Proofs(TM), sample papers, organize projects, use tools like environmental calculators, and download ASE Files, die-line files and much more right from their office desktops.
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04.17.2012
Walmart today released its fifth annual Global Responsibility Report (GRR) entitled "Beyond 50 Years: Building a Sustainable Future," highlighting Walmart's global top 10 list of achievements to reduce its impact on the environment, improve efficiency in its supply chain and stores and address social issues. The new GRR unveils data and progress against Walmart's three primary sustainability goals to use 100 percent renewable energy; create zero waste; and sell products that sustain people and the environment. Landmark waste reduction leads other notable accomplishments, including growing use of renewable energy, increased locally-grown sales and emphasis on diversity and empowerment.
"Good work is taking place every day across our global operations to make us a more responsible and sustainable company, and the results have been significant," said Mike Duke, Walmart's president and CEO. "We set ambitious goals to challenge ourselves but are committed to making change in a way that will be meaningful and long-term. Understandably, in some areas our progress is slower than we would like and sometimes we hit temporary roadblocks. Our commitment is clear and our resolve to lead is stronger than ever."
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04.17.2012
Gannett Co., Inc., a leading international media and marketing solutions company, today reported first quarter financial results. Earnings per diluted share, on a GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) basis were $0.28 for the first quarter of 2012 compared to $0.37 for the first quarter last year. Excluding special items in 2012 and 2011, first quarter earnings per diluted share were $0.34 compared to $0.41 for the same quarter in 2011.
Net income attributable to Gannett in the first quarter of 2012 totaled $68.2 million while net income attributable to Gannett on a non-GAAP basis was $80.8 million. Reported operating income was $135.7 million and non-GAAP operating income totaled $156.7 million. Operating cash flow in the quarter (a non-GAAP term defined as operating income plus special items, depreciation and amortization) was $204.3 million.
Total operating revenues for the company in the first quarter totaled $1.22 billion, a decline of 2.6 percent. Digital segment revenues were almost 7 percent higher reflecting primarily solid revenue growth at CareerBuilder. A 7.5 percent increase in Broadcasting segment revenues was driven by stronger advertising demand and growth in retransmission revenue. Publishing segment revenues declined 6.0 percent reflecting, in part, the impact of sluggish economic growth on advertising demand early in the quarter.
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04.17.2012
We are writing to inform you that UPM is increasing transaction prices of all LWC and CFS web products beginning with all orders delivering on or after July 1, 2012, as follows:
LWC products: $40 per short ton ($2.00 per cwt) for the following grade names in all basis weights and finishes: UPM Cote; UPM Satin; UPM Ultra; UPM Star
CFS web products: $30 per short ton ($1.50 per cwt) for the following grade names in all basis weights and finishes: Finesse
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04.16.2012
The union at the NewPage Port Hawkesbury paper mill in Nova Scotia is recommending workers accept a contract offer from a company that wants to buy the idle operation in a vote to be held Monday and Tuesday.
The executive of the Communications Energy and Paperworkers union Local 972 had previously taken no position on the offer, but that changed after Pacific West Commercial Corp. provided new information to the union.
Union vice-president Archie MacLachlan said in an interview the new information included clarification on seniority and recall rights.
He said the union's membership decided at a meeting on Sunday evening to put the offer to a vote.
Pacific West Commercial's original offer would have laid off about 320 employees of the 550-member workforce.
MacLachlan said those numbers are still accurate because Pacific West Commercial would only operate one of two papermaking machines at the mill in Point Tupper.
The mill closed in September as it struggled with soaring electricity and shipping costs, a strong Canadian dollar and declining demand.
MacLachlan said the union was still getting new information from the company until 30 minutes before Sunday's meeting.
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04.16.2012
Brent crude fell, extending last week’s drop, after the first international talks in 15 months on Iran’s nuclear program yielded an agreement to reconvene in May.
Futures slipped as much as 1.3 percent in London. The United Nations’ five permanent Security Council members plus Germany will meet Iranian delegates in Baghdad on May 23 after “constructive” talks in Istanbul on April 14, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said yesterday. Oil rose this year amid concern that tension with Iran may disrupt global supply.
“It’s definitely a step forward that the parties are at least talking again,” said Thorbjorn Bak Jensen, an analyst at Global Risk Management in Middelfart, Denmark. “There is a significant risk premium in prices related to Iran, and even small steps towards a solution can have large impacts.”
Brent oil for June settlement dropped as much as $1.62 to $119.59 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange and was at $120.06 as of 11:13 a.m. local time. Futures fell in four of the past five weeks.
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04.16.2012
Metsä Group is developing its energy efficiency further. As a part of its sustainability agenda the Group has introduced targets for increasing energy efficiency and reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Metsä Group’s energy efficiency improvements have been awarded international acknowledgements.
Metsä Group is already a major producer and consumer of bioenergy. The Group’s target is to further reduce fossil fuel based carbon dioxide emissions in production by 30% per product ton by year 2020 from 2009 level. At the same time, Metsä Group also targets to improve its energy efficiency by 10%.
To demonstrate its commitment to reducing emissions and improving energy efficiency, Metsä Group has initiated several major investments in bio energy production and reducing energy consumption. The investment programme includes four bioenergy projects and energy efficiency improvement projects in all of the Group’s mills. Metsä Group’s sustainability strategy is presented in more detail in the Sustainability Report available at the Group’s website.
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04.16.2012
Precision Press, part of Taylor Corp. and a packaging and label producer for the food, beverage and consumer markets, will be the first in the world to install the new Goss Sunday Vpak web offset printing system.
The new press will be configured for flexible packaging applications, with Sunday Vpak 500 web offset printing units, as well as a Goss in-line flexo and coating unit. The press will also be equipped for UV and EB curing. The system will go into operation at the company’s 213,000-square-foot facility in late 2012.
Print quality, quick-change sleeve technology and the prospect of lower production costs were key factors in the investment decision, along with Goss support resources in the United States, according to Lee Timmerman, president of Precision Press. Timmerman said the Sunday Vpak 500 press will accommodate a wide variety of film substrates, product formats and high-quality lithographic requirements, supplementing the company’s extensive web offset capabilities.
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04.13.2012
Meredith Corporation, a leading global media and marketing company serving women, announced several recent launches and new agreements that expand the reach of its brands across print and digital media in Europe, the Middle East and in Asia.
In Europe, Vienna-based Liquid 7, the digital content division of Atlantic Group, recently launched Sunny 7, an online network aimed at adult women. Sunny 7 integrates content from Meredith brands such as Better Homes and Gardens, Parents, Fitness and Family Circle across digital and social media. In the six weeks since launch, Sunny7 has attracted advertising from clients such as Nissan, Accor Hotels, Bank Austria, Ford, Clinique, Citroen, Johnson & Johnson and numerous others.
Also in Europe, Budapest-based Hamu es Gyemant will launch a quarterly localized edition of Diabetic Living in the Hungarian language with distribution planned via subscriptions and newsstand in Hungary and several other central and eastern European countries.
Athens-based Democratic Press just launched a Greek edition of Diabetic Living. Combined, these agreements represent the fifth and sixth local editions for Diabetic Living, which is also published locally in Australia, India, Italy and Russia.
In the Middle East, Riyadh-based Saudi Specialized Publishing Company (SSPC) will launch localized English-language editions of Parents and Better Homes and Gardens for the Gulf States markets of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman. Since 2009, SSPC has published an Arabic-language edition of Parents in the Middle Eastern region. Today there are 10 local editions of Parents and five for Better Homes and Gardens.
In Asia, Manila-based Summit Media will add content from Meredith’s American Baby brand to its locally published Smart Parenting brand. Smart Parenting is the No. 1 parenthood brand for Filipino parents of children from birth to age 6. American Baby will strengthen the brand’s reach to expecting and new mothers.
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04.13.2012
The majority owner of the Twin Rivers Paper Co. is seeking to sell its stake in the company.
Brookfield Asset Management confirmed Wednesday that it is looking for a buyer for its 51 percent share in Twin Rivers, which employs approximately 1,200 at its paper operations in Madawaska and Edmundston, New Brunswick, and at a sawmill in Plaster Rock, New Brunswick.
Twin Rivers Paper previously was known as Fraser Paper. That company filed for bankruptcy, emerging in April 2010 as Twin Rivers. Brookfield Asset Management, formerly known as Brascan Corp., emerged as majority owner. The New Brunswick government is a general partner and creditors own minority shares in the company, as they exchanged debt for equity as part of the bankruptcy deal.
Dan Whyte, senior vice president at Brookfield, said the business has stabilized out of bankruptcy, has secured customers and suppliers, hammered out a union contract, gotten additional financing and made capital improvements in the Madawaska mill.
“The company, though it’s stable, will need to establish a longer term financing plan for growth. Where do you get that capital? Brookfield Asset Management is not prepared to put any more capital in that company,” said Whyte. “Paper is no longer a core business of ours. We hold 51 percent interest in Twin Rivers and we’re looking to divest that interest to a purchaser who’s prepared to work with the minority shareholders, existing stakeholders and someone who can support the business in a strategic direction.”
Brookfield, said Whyte, is focused on four business platforms: power, properties, infrastructure and finance. Paper is not core to Brookfield’s business, he said.
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04.13.2012
Manistique Papers is being sold. MPI Acquisition, LLC has reached an agreement to purchase the assets of Manistique Papers which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last August.
Terms of the sale have not been disclosed. Manistique Papers says the plan is to continue operating with the same management and production team. The plant temporarily closed last August, but reopened in September.
Final bankruptcy court approval of the sale is scheduled for April 17 with the formal sale closing on or before May 4.
MPI Acquisition, LLC has been formed by investors from the Watermill Group, a Boston area private equity firm.
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04.13.2012
NewPage Corporation announced today that it has been awarded U.S. (8,096,479) and Canadian (CA 2678556) patents for PointTrac™ TT, a new paper-based substrate for printed Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) labels. PointTrac TT offers RFID label manufacturers the ability to combine thermal transfer printed variable analog information with advanced RFID chip technology. This technology facilitates low-cost production of printed paper RFID labels when compared with traditional multi-layer plastic film substrates.
RFID uses a wireless non-contact radio system for the transfer of data for automatic identification and tracking. PointTrac TT has special dual functionality built in so that printed barcodes on the label face can be read with a line of sight optical device or by using an out of sight electronic device.
"The NewPage PointTrac TT technology will allow RFID chips to become more widely used in shipping, tracking and transactions by making conversion to this technology more affordable," said Jim Sheibley, director of Specialty Business and Product Development.
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04.13.2012
Effective with shipments on or after May 1, 2012, Appleton Coated will be increasing the transaction prices on the following web grades:
Utopia Three; Utopia Book; Utopia Thin Book; Utopia Film Coat; All private label grades $1.50/cwt
Utopia GW Book $3.00/cwt
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04.13.2012
Cascades Inc., a leader in recovery and in the manufacturing of green packaging and tissue paper products, announces today the closure of its Norampac containerboard mill located in Trenton, Ontario. Following the rejection of the final offer made to the employees regarding the new collective agreement, the closure of the mill will be effective no later than June 1, 2012.
Difficult negotiations for the renewal of the collective agreement took place from May 2011 to March 2012 between Norampac's management and the CEP union, following which the two parties were unable to come to an agreement. Marc-André Dépin, President and Chief Executive Officer at Norampac, declared: “We are deeply disappointed that the Norampac – Trenton employees have turned down a positive and reasonable offer.”
“Despite substantial investments made by Cascades/Norampac to help increase its profitability, the Trenton mill has incurred significant losses over the years. These losses, combined with unacceptable labour relations, have left us with no other choice but to close the mill,” added Mr. Dépin.
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04.13.2012
AAA’s Fuel Gage Report as of 4/13/12
National Unleaded Regular:
Current Average - $3.901/gallon
Month Ago Average - $3.811/gallon
Year Ago Average - $3.812/gallon
Highest Recorded Average - $4.114/gallon on 7/17/08
Diesel:
Current Average - $4.153/gallon
Month Ago Average - $4.117/gallon
Year Ago Average - $4.121/gallon
Highest Recorded Average - $4.845/gallon on 7/17/08
Current Exchange Rates as of 4/12/12
American Dollar to Canadian Dollar = 1.00159 (120 day high - 1.01463 on March 1, 2012; low 0.950905 on November 25, 2011)
American Dollar to Chinese Yuan = 0.158544 (120 day high – 0.158948 on February 13, 2012; low 0.156639 on November 28, 2011)
American Dollar to Euro = 1.3153 (120 day high - 1.416 on October 28, 2011; low 1.2669 on January 16, 2012)
American Dollar to Japanese Yen = 0.0123456 (120 day high – 0.0131979 on October 28, 2011; low 0.0119026 on March 21, 2012)
American Dollar to Mexican Peso = 0.0764158 (120 day high – 0.0793808 on March 14, 2012; low 0.0700535 on November 25, 2011)
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04.13.2012
The targeted media category, which includes b-to-b media, branded entertainment, direct marketing, outsourced custom content and pure-play consumer Internet & mobile services, is expected to grow 8.1% this year compared with last year, according to the “VSS Forecast Mid-term Update.” Veronis Suhler Stevenson, which publishes the forecast, said the b-to-b media portion of the category is expected to grow 5.5% this year.
Total U.S. communications industry spending is expected to reach $1.185 trillion this year, a gain of 5.6% over last year. That growth rate will outperform GDP growth this year, which is projected to be 4.4%.
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04.13.2012
Oil dropped for the first time in three days, erasing a weekly gain, after China’s economy grew at the slowest pace in 11 quarters and Saudi Arabia’s oil minister said the kingdom is determined to see lower prices.
Futures fell as much as 0.8 percent after government data today showed China’s gross domestic product expanded 8.1 percent from a year earlier in the first quarter, after an 8.9 percent gain in the final three months of 2011. Industrial output rose at a faster pace in March, while retail sales growth accelerated. Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, considers prices too high and is working toward damping them, Minister Ali al-Naimi said today.
“The market is still range-trading, albeit in a slightly lower range than previously,” said Christopher Bellew, a senior broker at Jefferies Bache Ltd., who predicts Brent crude will remain supported at $119 a barrel. “Despite today’s GDP number, expectations are still that the Chinese economy will have a soft landing.”
Crude for May delivery fell as much as 78 cents to $102.86 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $103.16 at 10:50 a.m. London time.
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04.13.2012
Cascades and NextLife have agreed to an exclusive partnership to include recycled polystyrene, or No. 6 Plastic, and thereby to give this plastic a second life. Specifically, NextLife transforms recovered polystyrene products into sustainable resin that will be supplied to Cascades who will use it in the production of foam trays designed for meat packaging.
Recovered post-consumer materials are primarily sourced from businesses seeking sustainable solutions and an improvement in their environmental impact. The sourced material runs through a proprietary process and is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in food contact applications. “NextLife is seeing companies big and small looking for ways to become more sustainable, whether it may be finding ways to recycle and reuse their waste or implementing sustainable recycled resins in their products, Cascades is one such leader and an industry innovator,” said Ronald Whaley, CEO of NextLife.
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04.13.2012
Thanks largely to better-than-expected spending in the digital sector, the overall U.S. communications industry is projected to grow another 5.6 percent in 2012, reaching almost $1.2 trillion and beating GDP's 4.4 percent growth, says a new report from private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson.
The report, called the VSS Forecast Mid-Term Update, is a companion piece to VSS's annual Communications Industry Forecast and finalizes spending data from the just-past year and updates the first-year data from the previous annual Forecast—in this case, the 2011-2015 study. Going forward, the Mid-Term report will be released at the end of the first quarter each year.
Digital spending has lifted all boats among the six sectors VSS tracks. In 2011, communications industry spending actually grew 4.2 percent, just beating last year's forecast of 4.1 percent for the year. As mentioned, 2012 is expecting 5.6 percent growth, and by 2015 VSS is now predicting that total spending will reach $1.419 trillion at a 5.7 percent CAGR, slightly better than the 5.5 percent CAGR from last September's 2011-2015 report.
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04.13.2012
Two Sides and Print Power are encouraging every company in the industry to forward a survey on print use to all their contacts in a bid to reinforce the positive message about print media.
The survey has been specially designed to discover which groups of people are still using print and are most likely to respond to printed marketing material.
It will also discover which other forms of media work best alongside print with regards to advertising.
According to Two Sides director Martyn Eustace, the survey will enable the organisation to better focus its advertising, as well as going to print buyers with valuable information on the advantages of advertising in print.
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04.13.2012
The digital edition of National Geographic’s monthly magazine is among the top sellers and top grossing apps in the News category of the iPad store. But the legendary brand has so much more to offer the tablet than its magazine in games and special issues that it has been publishing at a hearty pace for a while. But what about all of that lovely digital material from its Web site, archives and various online properties? Rather than let iPad users merely browse to the tablet-friendly NationalGeographic.com in the Safari browser, the publisher has come up with an elegant and absorbing way to bring the best of NatGeo to the tablet every day.
National Geographic Today understands the tablet user by dazzling her with full screen images. They had us at ‘hello.” Every day the app leads with a stunning splash page and a modest selection of content like a news article, video clip, gallery of photos. The art of this app is that it doesn’t overwhelm you like the site with a torrent of content. It is highly curated each day to give the user a taste. And this seems to us a novel and thoughtful way to come at the tablet.
Understanding that the evening tablet user is in lean-back/lean in mode, the brand gives her a glimpse of the NG brand’s offerings that doesn’t require serious investment but can reward the ambitious content digger. The site lets you track back over previous days of NG content from the app, parse the full catalog by four categories: videos, articles, galleries, featured photos. Or you can view the back catalog by a calendar interface. The daily content is sometimes highly topical (North Korea testing nukes) and often just interesting and random (using magnets as brakes). Each of the content pieces is surrounded by social tools, including making a Facebook comment and posting to your wall.
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04.13.2012
Printing company Multi Packaging Solutions is cutting more than 80 jobs at one of its Louisville facilities.
According to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filed with the with the Kentucky Division of Workforce and Employment Services, Multi Packaging will cut 83 jobs at its printing plant at 4325 Shepherdsville Road.
Officials with Multi Packaging could not be immediately be reached for comment.
Multi Packaging had about 360 Louisville workers in 2010, according to data from the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development.
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04.13.2012
The iPad was hailed by many as the savior of the magazine publishing industry when it hit the market back in 2010. It represented a chance for publishers to reinvigorate their flagging subscriber bases with rich, interactive user experiences and to reclaim some of the brand ad dollars that slipped through their fingers on the Web.
But two years later, few publishers have really gone out of their way to embrace the device. There are examples of magazines that have been adapted well for the iPad environment — Wired and GQ spring to mind — but they’re exceptions to the rule. The fact is most iPad editions of magazines are simply print products squeezed onto a tablet screen with little, if any, consideration for the unique user experience of tablets.
Major publishers like Hearst, Conde Nast and Bonnier, simply shrink print pages for many of their titles and ship them out to tablet users with a few added links but with little in the way of interactive content. Examples include titles such as Men’s Health, Harper’s Bazaar, Good Housekeeping, Runner’s World, Bicycling, and more. Owing to the iPad’s smaller screen, copy is often impossible to read without zooming in or resizing the page, and before long, it’s difficult to see why users would choose an iPad magazine over an old-fashioned print one. It is akin to the early days of websites, when “brochureware” was the norm.
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04.13.2012
Consumers on the hunt for a fresh approach to eating and living well with ease need look no further. FRESH JUICE – healthy made delicious, the new multi-platform brand by TC Media, has hit the market with a “fresh” approach to connecting food with good health through its various brand channels. FRESH JUICE will be served up as a print publication including a digital edition (six issues per year), an online destination (www.freshjuice.ca) with exclusive content, a weekly e-newsletter, a comprehensive social media platform including Facebook/FreshJuiceCA, twitter (@FreshJuiceCA) and Pinterest.
Built on three content pillars, Eat Well, Be Well, Live Well and a tag line “Healthy Made Delicious”, FRESH JUICE offers fun, healthy and easy-to-prepare recipes; expert health, fitness and nutrition tips as well as time-savvy ways to help balance fun, family, finance and more.
“We are very excited to share FRESH JUICE with consumers and our advertising partners,” said Lynn Chambers, group publisher at TC Media. “We certainly appreciate how busy Canadian families are and FRESH JUICE is about helping people make the right decisions quickly and easily. FRESH JUICE is the only brand to showcase the link between food and good health, and bring that food straight from the grocery aisle to your kitchen table.Whether you’re looking for low-sodium or gluten free, we can help you navigate the grocery aisles and create a convenient meal option that is healthy and delicious.”
While TC Media owns the brand and is the publisher and content creator for FRESH JUICE, a distribution relationship with Loblaw Companies Limited guarantees that 325,000 of the 425,000 copies per issue will be mailed to Loblaw’s most loyal customers.
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04.12.2012
The U.S. filed an antitrust lawsuit Wednesday against Apple Inc. AAPL +0.73%and five of the nation's largest publishers, alleging they conspired to limit competition for the pricing of e-books.
The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court by the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, alleges Apple and the publishers reached an agreement where retail price competition would cease, retail e-books prices would increase significantly and Apple would be guarantee a 30% "commission" on each e-book sold.
A settlement involving some of the publishers is expected to be filed Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the matter. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to discuss "a significant antitrust matter" at a press conference later Wednesday.
"Defendants' ongoing conspiracy and agreement have caused e-book consumers to pay tens of millions of dollars more for e-books than they otherwise would have paid," the lawsuit said.
The agreement between Apple and the publishers allegedly occurred ahead of the introduction of the iPad in 2010 and as Amazon.com Inc. AMZN +2.39%had driven e-book pricing down to $9.99 for newly released and best-selling e-books, according to the lawsuit.
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04.12.2012
West Linn Paper Company is increasing prices $1.50 per cwt effective on all new and existing orders with confirmed ship dates of May 29th, 2012 or later. This pricing change includes all of the following grades: Sonoma®; Capistrano®; Nature Web®; Nature Plus®
This price increase applies to all basis weights and finishes plus all related private label grades, C1S grades and associated brand extensions.
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04.12.2012
AbitibiBowater Inc., doing business as Resolute Forest Products, today announced that all applicable conditions to its offer for Fibrek Inc. have been satisfied and that it has taken up and accepted for payment the 60,831,859 shares deposited as of 11:59 p.m. on April 11. The tendered shares represent approximately 46.8% of the currently outstanding Fibrek shares. As aggregate consideration for the shares, Resolute will distribute approximately 1.7 million newly-issued shares of its common stock and CAD$33.5 million in cash through RFP Acquisition Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary.
The Company also announced that the Bureau de révision et décision (Québec) has issued an order to cease trade, effective immediately, Fibrek's second shareholder rights plan, which its board adopted on April 11.
In addition, in order to allow additional Fibrek shareholders to participate, the Company announced that it has extended to 5:00 p.m. on April 23 the expiry time for its offer. As further described in the offer circular and other ancillary documentation related to the offer (as amended), Resolute intends to carry out a second step transaction to acquire the Fibrek shares not deposited in the offer.
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04.12.2012
The big three business magazines—Bloomberg Businessweek, Forbes and Fortune—all posted advertising page gains in the first quarter, according to Publishers Information Bureau figures released by MPA. Bloomberg Businessweek led the way with an 8.2% gain compared with the year-earlier period.
Fortune turned in a similar performance with an 8.1% gain, and Forbes was not far behind, with a 7.4% gain. Fast Company (4.4%) and Barron's (4.2%) also delivered ad page gains.
However, other business magazines showed ad-page declines, including Wired (down 16.0%); Inc. (down 15.6%); Entrepreneur (down 10.1%); Harvard Business Review (down 8.2%); and The Economist (down 4.8%).
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04.12.2012
Meredith’s EatingWell magazine will raise its rate base from 500,000 to 600,000, starting with its September/October issue, marking the title’s second rate base boost this year.
At 600,000, the newly expanded distribution will represent a 71 percent increase from this time last year. In January, Meredith upped the number from 350,000 to 500,000.
Publisher Tony Catalano says the increased rate base is made possible by a combination of being “in the right place at the right time, doing all or most of the right things,” along with the mainstream emergence of the healthy eating market. The magazine’s most recent issue, January/February, sold close to 80,000 copies at newsstand, he says—a 50 percent jump from last year.
Being in the right place includes having access to Meredith’s direct mail and database resources—the company purchased the title from EatingWell Media Group last June, along with the brand’s content licensing and custom marketing group, its Health-in-a-Hurry mobile app and a series of food and nutrition-related books.
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04.12.2012
American Media Inc.’s Soap Opera Weekly is closing. Initially reported by Adweek, the soap opera rag is shuttering due to a “decline in readership in the soap opera market,” according to an AMI spokesperson. Current Soap Opera Weekly subscriptions will be fulfilled by sister publication Soap Opera Digest until they expire.
Like so many other markets, soap operas have been suffering. Now down to only four soaps appearing on network television, at their peak, there were 19 soaps on air.
AMI says, “A few employees were impacted and are being used as freelancers at AMI.” Exact numbers of affected employees were not offered.
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04.12.2012
Mercer International Inc. announced that, pursuant to an amended Support Agreement with Fibrek Inc., it has increased its offer to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Fibrek to C$1.40 per Fibrek share. Pursuant to the enhanced Offer, Mercer is offering to acquire all of the outstanding Fibrek shares for consideration per Fibrek share, at the election of each holder, in one of the following forms: C$1.40 in cash per Fibrek share; 0.1659 of a share of Mercer's common stock per Fibrek share; or C$0.64 in cash plus 0.0903 of a Mercer Share per Fibrek share.
Under the enhanced Offer, the aggregate cash consideration has been increased to approximately C$83.0 million, while the maximum number of Mercer shares available to be issued under the Offer remains 11,741,496 Mercer shares.
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04.12.2012
Yesterday (April 11), the MPA--Association of Magazine Media released first-quarter Publishers Information Bureau-compiled advertising data for 211 magazines. The cumulative -4.2% ad revenues ($4.489 billion in first-quarter 2012 versus $4.689 billion for the same three months in 2011) were expected, because per min's boxscores, the 146 monthlies' ad pages were -6.09% and the 29 weeklies were -9.15%.
It is a pattern that has worsened since first-half 2011, with the poor economy and the shift to digital advertising being factors. Said Meredith National Media Group corporate executive vp and president/media sales (since June 2011) Dick Porter to AdAge.com: "When it comes to recessions, print is sometimes the last guy to feel it--because we have the longer lead times--and sometimes the last to swing out of it. So I do think it will be interesting to see [quarters three and four]. We're still in a fragile economy, most people think."
The two positive first-quarter categorical exceptions were the beauty- and fashion-centric toiletries/cosmetics (+7.1% ad revenues) and apparel/accessories (+13.2%). They were reflected in the women's beauty- and fashion magazines' generally strong March Spring Preview performances. Marie Claire (pictured) had the biggest March ad-page differential, +31.40%, which contributed to MC's +16.3% first-quarter ad revenues.
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04.12.2012
Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to increase 3.2% in April compared with the same month last year, and year-over-year gains should continue through the end of summer, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
“Retailers are continuing to watch rising gas prices, but job gains and other indicators show the economy is strengthening,” NRF VP for supply chain and customs policy Jonathan Gold said.
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04.12.2012
Three publishers—Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster—have agreed to a proposed settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice to settle federal claims of price fixing regarding e-books. PW takes an initial look at the broad strokes of the deal, and what it means for the settling publishers.
Terms: The agency model is not dead. However, once the settlement goes into effect, the current agency agreements, along with the “Most Favored Nation” clauses they included, are history, at least for a period of time.
Going forward, the Settling Publishers can still use the agency model if they choose, but for a period of two years they cannot dictate final consumer prices, which was the allure of the agency model to begin with. Under the terms of the Settlement, however, e-book retailers can only lower consumer prices up to the amount of their commission—generally 30%, under current agency terms.
Publishers are also expressly enjoined from “retaliating” against e-book retailers.
Compliance: This is the most onerous part of the settlement, and helps explain why Macmillan and Penguin have decided to fight. Under the Settlement, each publisher will have to engage in a number of compliance measures, including:
The appointment of an "Anti-Trust Compliance Officer," reporting directly to the company’s general counsel.
In addition, the publishers must provide at least "four hours of training" for relevant staff delivered by an attorney and conduct "an annual compliance audit."
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04.12.2012
Quad/Graphics, Inc. and WIRED have collaborated to produce America’s first mass-produced Near Field Communication (NFC) magazine ad. WIRED’s April issue features an ad with an NFC tag that launches a mobile site when tapped by an NFC-enabled Android smartphone. NFC chips have been used in smartcard and other applications, but the advertisement appearing in 500,000 subscriber copies of WIRED’s April issue marks the first time the fast-emerging chip technology has been used in an American magazine on a mass scale.
“This is a landmark development in the continued redefinition of print and the ways print can be married to innovative technologies to drive greater reader engagement and response,” says Joel Quadracci, Chairman, President & CEO of Quad/Graphics. “It is appropriate that we have partnered with WIRED and its Condé Nast support team to bring this innovation to market. WIRED is all about the future and how ideas and innovation are changing our world, and we see NFC changing how magazines and their advertisers will interact with readers.”
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04.12.2012
Rite Aid Corporation today reported improved financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended March 3, 2012.
For the fourth quarter, the company reported revenues of $7.1 billion, a net loss of $161.3 million or $0.18 per diluted share and Adjusted EBITDA of $274.3 million or 3.8 percent of revenues. Revenues improved by $690.3 million; net loss decreased by $44.4 million, or $0.06 per diluted share; and Adjusted EBITDA improved by $58.9 million over the prior year fourth quarter. These results benefited primarily from continued growth in same store sales and an extra week in the quarter.
For the full year, Rite Aid reported revenues of $26.1 billion, a net loss of $368.6 million or $0.43 per diluted share and Adjusted EBITDA of $942.9 million or 3.6 percent of revenues. Revenues improved by $906.3 million; net loss decreased by $186.9 million, or $0.21 per diluted share; and Adjusted EBITDA improved by $83.9 million over the prior year.
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04.12.2012
UPM launches a new ecological UPM SwanBarrier paper range for dry and greasy food wrappings. The barrier properties of the UPM SwanBarrier papers, such as water vapour barrier and medium grease resistance, have been achieved without any PE-coating or fluorochemicals thus they are fully recyclable and biodegradable. The innovative papers are a result of UPM’s persistent Research & Development.
The UPM SwanBarrier papers are developed for dry and greasy foodstuffs e.g. for bread bags and biscuit and greasy food wrappers. Because of the water vapour barrier UPM SwanBarrier light keeps the bread fresh for at least two to three days. Unlike plastic the paper breathes and thus prevents the bread from going soggy. UPM SwanBarrier with medium level greaseproof keeps greasy food wrapping tidy and the grease does not leak through.
“With this barrier paper range we want to answer customers’ needs for a recyclable and biodegradable packing material. We also wanted to make a barrier paper with existing barrier paper properties without using non-degradable components. With UPM SwanBarrier range we can answer both these needs. This product truly enhances our Biofore vision,” says Timo Lehmuskallio, Product Manager, UPM Packaging papers.
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04.12.2012
UPS today announced UPS CrossBorder Connect™, a ground freight service between the United States and Mexico designed to significantly ease heavyweight freight supply chain challenges for companies investing in cross-border trade.
The service bundles UPS's transportation and customs brokerage expertise north and south of the border to boost speed to market, drive cost efficiencies and reduce supply chain risk.
UPS CrossBorder Connect is a contractual service that utilizes the trucking network that supports UPS's North American Air Freight service. That network has been connected with trusted carriers in Mexico at eight important points along the U.S.-Mexico border. By integrating UPS's brokerage capabilities, the service helps companies with the complex brokerage process and is designed to help reduce customs delays associated with border regulations, inspections and lengthy paperwork.
UPS also provides the option of bonded movements through the border to help enable faster crossing of goods.
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04.11.2012
PPPC preliminary N American printing and writing stats show much weaker trends compared to Feb. Shipments fell 12.3% y/y in March vs only a 1.6% drop in Feb.
The March comp was 500bp tougher than Feb. Shipments rose 6% m/m. Year to date shipments are off 6.7%. Utilization was unchanged m/m but fell 500 bp y/y. Year to date, op rates are flat.
Uncoated free shipments fell 6.5% y/y –worse than the 4% growth in Feb but half the decline in all print/write.
Coated free shipments fell 12% y/y. Coated groundwood shipments fell 14.8% y/y. Uncoated groundwood shipments fell 22% y/y despite the easiest comp.
Uncoated trends supportive of pricing initiative, other grades tougher. With solid op rate and more capacity yet to shut we believe the data is generally supportive of the April partial uncoated free price hike. On the other hand, we are not convinced that steep double digit declines in shipments and tepid op rates will be enough to support the recent May hikes for the other 3 grades.
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04.11.2012
Oil traded near its lowest price in almost two months in New York after an industry report showed stockpiles rose for a third week in the U.S., the world’s biggest consumer of crude.
Futures swung between gains and losses after dropping yesterday for a second day. U.S. inventories increased by 6.6 million barrels last week, according to the American Petroleum Institute. An Energy Department report today may show they rose by 2 million to the highest level for this time of year since 1990, according to a Bloomberg survey. The U.S. cut its price forecast for domestic and imported grades used by its refiners because of rising output in Canada and North Dakota.
“The fact there is a surplus in the U.S. is borne out by yesterday’s API inventory data,” said Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt. He predicts crude will average $104 a barrel this quarter.
Oil for May delivery was at $101.39 a barrel, up 37 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 9:49 a.m. in London. It fell earlier as much as 0.2 percent and gained 0.6 percent. The contract yesterday declined 1.4 percent, to $101.02, the lowest close since Feb. 14.
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04.11.2012
Metsä Group’s parent company Metsäliitto Cooperative (Metsäliitto), M-real Corporation (M-real) and Itochu Corporation (Itochu) have agreed on a transaction in which Itochu will acquire a 24.9 per cent strategic stake in Metsä Fibre Corporation (Metsä Fibre) against cash consideration of EUR 472 million, which corresponds to an enterprise value of EUR 2,040 million for Metsä Fibre.
At the completion of the transaction, Metsäliitto shall exercise the call option on the Metsä Fibre shares owned by UPM-Kymmene Corporation (UPM). The call option price for UPM’s 11.0 per cent shareholding in Metsä Fibre is EUR 150 million as was announced by Metsä Group and UPM on 30 June 2011. As a result of the transactions, Metsäliitto’s ownership in Metsä Fibre will decrease to 50.2 per cent (currently 56.8), M-real’s ownership to 24.9 per cent (currently 32.2), and Itochu will own 24.9 percent of the total share capital of Metsä Fibre.
At the same time, the parties will enter into a commercial arrangement whereby Itochu’s sales agent position in selling Metsä Fibre’s long fibre pulp in Asia and Metsä Fibre’s sales agent position in selling Itochu’s short fibre pulp in Europe will be renewed. The pulp sales included in the arrangement on the part of Metsä Fibre in Asia and on the part of Itochu in Europe amount to 500,000 tons and 150,000 tons per annum respectively.
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04.11.2012
If publishers think they've been covering the bases with an anytime, anywhere content strategy, they might be shocked to learn the results of a recent Time Inc. study conducted with Innerscope Research. Digital Natives, defined as consumers who grew up with mobile and digital technology as part of their everyday lives, switch their attention between media platforms an astonishing 27 times per hour.
That was one of the key findings of the study, called "A Biometric Day in the Life," which used biometric monitoring and point-of-view camera glasses to follow the media habits of 30 individuals during 300 hours' worth of media consumption. Biometric belts measured their emotional responses to various media platforms and the glasses recorded what platform they were viewing.
The other half of the study group consisted of Digital Immigrants, people who encountered and used digital media in their adult lives, who, predictably, have a more mellow media consumption patterns.
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04.11.2012
Graphcom, a Consolidated Graphics, Inc. company, with capabilities including digital printing, offset printing, web printing, packaging and fulfillment, announced today it has achieved G7 Master Qualified Printer status through IDEAlliance, the non-profit industry organization that develops, educates, and validates best practices in publishing and information technology. Graphcom’s G7 Master Qualified Printer designation highlights the company’s commitment to quality, consistency and color management.
Graphcom has been trained to utilize the new G7 methodology and can produce a press sheet to GRACoL (General Requirements for Applications in Commercial Offset Lithography) targets within acceptable tolerances. By achieving the status of a G7 Master Printer, Graphcom can reliably produce high-quality printing with a close visual appearance from proof to press, as well as from press to press. As a G7 Master Printer, the company will go through a yearly requalification audit to ensure it maintains IDEAlliance calibration and process standards.
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04.11.2012
Joining the other major titles in the Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia portfolio, Whole Living comes onto the iPad in a digital edition with the May issue. The inaugural number is optimized for the new Retina display on the latest iPads, as are all the other MSLO monthlies going forward. Whole Living certainly takes advantage of the higher resolution by filling the screens with pin-sharp, close-up imagery of natural ingredients. From the lemons on the cover to asparagus that reaches from top to bottom of the hi-res screen and every imaginable ingredient in between, the design of the book emphasizes the lusciousness of food.
As an enhanced app, the title follows some of the conventions MSLO has been laying down in its other titles. The recipes are neatly gathered in a single thumbnailed index at the bringing of the app for easy reference. The recipes have a step by step mode aimed at kitchen use. A simple swipe moves you through each prep stage with oversized type for viewing while across the room at the fridge.
For interactivity, MSLO pubs seem to have settled in to a model that keeps the user tapping to bring up more information, captions, etc. that are attached to a simple plus icon indicating there is more information. The consistency of the visual cues is welcome. Moreover, the technique keeps the delectable images large and immersive and unimpeded while the content is collapsed into fewer screens/pages that need flipping.
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04.11.2012
A report released Tuesday by First Data Corp., which tracks same-store consumer spending by credit, signature debit, PIN debit, EBT cards and checks at U.S. merchant locations, found that warm weather and spring promotions boosted discretionary spending in March.
According to First Data’s March 2012 SpendTrend report, year-over-year dollar volume growth was 8.7% in March, compared with February’s 8.9% growth.
Mild temperatures and early Easter holiday spending drove retail foot traffic despite higher gasoline prices. “The mild weather across much of the nation in March encouraged retailers to promote sales of spring merchandise, providing an additional catalyst to customer traffic,” said Silvio Tavares, senior VP and division manager of First Data Global Information and Analytics Solutions, which publishes SpendTrend.
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04.11.2012
Tuesday Morning Corp. reported Tuesday that same-store sales for the quarter ended Mar. 31 dropped 3.2% on spending and traffic decreases.
According to the discount retailer, traffic dipped 1.8% for the third quarter and average tickets fell 1.4%. Total revenue edged down 1% to $172.7 million, compared with $174.3 million in the year-ago period.
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04.11.2012
The global consumption of PET packaging will grow to almost 19.1 million tonnes by 2017 predicts Smithers Pira in a new market study. Driven mainly by increasing demand in emerging and transitional economies, the market will grow 5.2% per annum with a focus on Asia Pacific, South and Central America, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Middle East and Africa. Barrier PET bottles and jars for juices, milk, teas, beer, wine, and food are forecast to register strong growth over the period 2012 to 2017.
“The Future of Global PET Packaging to 2017” provides a detailed analysis of PET packaging markets and technology trends for the period ?2012 to 2017, with particular emphasis on the impact of the global economic downturn of 2008 to 2009 on the PET packaging market. It also presents volume and value data forecasts for PET packaging for the period 2012 to 2017 by end-use sector, and geographic markets. The study is based on a combination of primary and secondary data gathered during Pira's research program for the global packaging industry.
The developing countries of Asia Pacific, South America, and Central and Eastern Europe will show higher growth for PET packaging as a result of growing real incomes and the replacement of traditional pack formats by PET bottles. Asia Pacific overtook both North America and Western Europe during the period 2007 to 2012 to become the largest regional market for PET packaging. Asia Pacific accounts for a projected 29.4% of world PET packaging consumption in 2012, followed by North America with 24.1%, and Western Europe with 19.7%.
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