June 2019 - Midland Paper

BMI Becomes Official Association Sponsor for The Print Event: A Revolutionary Conference on Integrating Print and Digital

BMI, a nationally recognized association representing the book publishing industry for over 80 years, is officially announced as an association sponsor of The Print Event, a new conference from Momentum being held August 6-7, 2019 in Minneapolis. The conference will explore how to integrate print into direct-to-customer marketing in a digital world. “This partnership speaks to BMI’s reputation as an avid supporter of the value of print and digital print in manufacturing” said Matt Baehr, Executive Director for BMI. “The timing of this conference could not be better. There is a need to discuss how innovations in print marketing are being implemented, measured and combined with other marketing channels.” BMI Members get special savings by using code BMI15 to save 15% on your registration. To register and for information click on the following link: https://theprintevent.com/ Click Read More below for additional information.

Kallima® Launches Kallima box™ its NEW Kallima Folding Grade (Revision 6/18/19)

Rayonier Advanced Materials paperboard division is pleased to announce the launch of their new Folding Grade Kallima box™. Customers of Kallima® coated paperboard will continue to benefit from the strength and versatility they've come to expect from Kallima® commercial printing grades, but with a new product option that delivers a foldable, printable, boxable solution for all their packaging, cartons, POP displays and other projects. As Martin Lavoie, Vice President of Sales and Marketing stated: “Our customers from the commercial print markets have come to appreciate the main benefits of Kallima: its lower basis weight and its North American footprint. We are now pleased to offer this unique combination of advantages to packaging converters.” Kallima box™ is a 3-ply FBB (folding boxboard) grade manufactured in North America. It is coated one side and is available in 14 pt, 16 pt and 18 pt, with consistent printability and reliability on press. Its low-density high yield pulp content and multi-ply construction brings significant savings due to the basis weight advantage over competing SBS products. Available in sheets and rolls, FDA-compliant for dry food contact and FSC-certified® upon request.

Adobe Reports Record Q2 Revenue

Q2 FY2019 Financial Highlights • Adobe achieved record quarterly revenue of $2.74 billion in its second quarter of fiscal year 2019, which represents 25 percent year-over-year growth. Diluted earnings per share was $1.29 on a GAAP-basis, and $1.83 on a non-GAAP basis. • Digital Media segment revenue was $1.89 billion, which represents 22 percent year-over-year growth. Creative revenue grew to $1.59 billion and Document Cloud achieved revenue of $296 million. Digital Media Annualized Recurring Revenue (“ARR”) grew to $7.47 billion exiting the quarter, a quarter-over-quarter increase of $406 million. Creative ARR grew to $6.55 billion, and Document Cloud ARR grew to $921 million. • Digital Experience segment revenue was $784 million, representing 34 percent year-over-year growth. • GAAP operating income in the second quarter was $750 million, and non-GAAP operating income was $1.05 billion. GAAP net income was $633 million, and non-GAAP net income was $901 million. Click Read More below for additional information.

American Forest & Paper Association Releases May 2019 Printing-Writing Monthly Report

According to the May 2019 Printing-Writing Monthly report from AF&PA, total printing-writing paper shipments decreased 11 percent in May compared to May 2018. U.S. purchases of total printing-writing papers declined eight percent in May compared to the same month last year. Total printing-writing paper inventory levels increased one percent from April 2019. U.S. shipments of uncoated free sheet (UFS) paper decreased 13 percent in May from the same month one year ago. The inventory level of UFS papers increased two percent in May compared to April. UFS imports in April 2019 increased 39 percent year-over-year while exports decreased 29 percent. U.S. purchases of coated free sheet (CFS) papers decreased five percent in May when compared to May 2018. Inventories decreased two percent compared to last month. Imports of CFS papers in April 2019 increased six percent while exports decreased 10 percent. U.S. shipments of coated mechanical (CM) papers decreased four percent year-over-year in May. U.S. purchases of uncoated mechanical (UM) paper decreased 10 percent in May. Inventory levels at the end of May when compared to April increased for CM and decreased for UM, both by three percent. Both imports and exports of CM increased year-over-year in April, while UM imports and exports were both up.

Amazon Announces the Best Books of 2019 So Far

Amazon announced its selections for the Best Books of the Year So Far, naming Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel City of Girls the top pick overall. Over the course of the year, the Amazon Books editorial team reads hundreds of thousands of pages of new releases to select the Best Books of the Month as well as the Best Books of the Year So Far and, at the end of the year, the Best Books of the Year. The annual list features the Top 20 books of the year, published between January and June 2019, as well as top picks across various categories, including literary fiction, mystery and thriller, biography, children’s, and young adult. Click Read More below for additional information.

Oil prices pull back on weaker-than-expected U.S. supply drop (marketwatch.com)

June 19, 2019
Midland Paper Clips
Misc

Oil futures prices slipped Wednesday after closing at their highest level in over a week, as a snapshot of U.S. supply data showed a drawdown in stockpiles that was smaller than bullish investors had expected. On the supply side, the American Petroleum Institute reported late Tuesday that U.S. crude supplies fell by 812,000 barrels for the week ended June 14, according to sources. The API also reportedly showed a stockpile climb of 1.5 million barrels in gasoline, while distillate supplies edged down by 50,000 barrels. Click Read More below for additional information.

Deluxe Corporation Announces New Hires in Critical Executive Leadership Roles

Deluxe Corporation announced recently the hiring of two key positions at the company’s executive level. Barry McCarthy, Deluxe’s President and CEO created the new role of Chief Strategy Officer and hired a new Chief Human Resources Officer for the 104-year-old company. “These roles are absolutely critical to the transformation of Deluxe to a tech-enabled solutions company,” McCarthy said. “We are positioning ourselves to seamlessly meet the evolving needs of our customers for the next 100 years, and these leaders bring new points of view we can use to build on our already significant expertise at Deluxe.” Amanda Parrilli, Chief Strategy Officer - Parrilli will lead Deluxe’s strategic marketplace analysis and play a critical role in setting the go-to- market strategy to drive profitable revenue growth. Jane Elliott, Chief Human Resources Officer - Elliott will lead the enterprise human resources function, playing a strategic role in developing people and aligning the organization to Deluxe’s business strategy. Click Read More below for additional information.

Convoy of Hope and GP Helps Natural Disaster Victims Across Central U.S.

Due to the recent record flooding in Oklahoma, Georgia‐Pacific has again teamed up with Convoy of Hope to provide aid to disaster victims. Multiple communities have been affected including Tulsa, Fort Gibson and our mill area in Muskogee. Flooded roadways and rising waters have impacted at least 109 Georgia-Pacific employees as well as their families in nearby areas. Operations at the mill were temporarily affected due to rising waters that forced the river water pumps offline. Convoy of Hope, GP's ongoing partner for distributing products in disaster areas, has delivered three truckloads including 28 pallets of GP products to the Muskogee and Fort Gibson areas in the last two weeks. To help shoulder the burden of those affected by the flooding, the products distributed so far include Quilted Northern bath tissue, Sparkle®paper towels and Brawny® Giant Durable Wipes. Click Read More below for additional information.

Amazon called out to provide better transparency of its environmental impact (digitalcommerce360.com)

Amazon.com Inc., Exxon Mobil Corp. and Volvo are among more than 700 companies being targeted in a campaign backed by a large group of investors advocating for greater transparency when it comes to environmental impact. HSBC Global Asset Management, Investec Asset Management and close to 85 other investors representing a combined $10 trillion in assets are asking companies to comply with the reporting process managed by the Carbon Disclosure Project, a British nonprofit research group that solicits and scores corporate environmental disclosures. Investors and interested observers need “consistent, comparable information collected in one place so that they can benchmark performance and use the data to inform their decisions,” said Emily Kreps, global director of investor initiatives at CDP. HSBC and Investec didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The effort targets companies the group says have failed to disclose such information for years at a time. Click Read More below for additional information.

U.S. Ad Market Expands 3.1% In May, Top Advertisers Pace The Pack (mediapost.com)

The U.S. ad market expanded 3.1% in May versus the same month in 2018, according to the latest data from Standard Media Index. The U.S. Ad Market Tracker, a collaboration of SMI and MediaPost, slid slightly from April, falling 1.2% on a sequential basis, but May nonetheless posted the strongest index of media-buying demand for the month since SMI began tracking it in 2011. Most of the demand appears to have come from the largest advertisers. The top 10 product categories rose 3.4% in May vs. May 2018, while all other categories actually declined 5.6%. Click Read More below for additional information.