Market Watch FY 2012 – A Year in Review Pt. 4

Part 4 – Reported SME Mergers and Acquisitions   

Ascent Partners director, Richard Rasmussen, outlines some of most prominent mergers and acquisitions that occurred during the 2012 financial year for the small to medium end of the market.

Much has been said about the poor state of the printing industry, but there is a positive side as well. In FY 2012 there were plenty of mergers, acquisitions and amalgamations, which shows that there is a degree of confidence in the industry – buyers don’t buy unless they see a return on investment or a more positive outlook than pre-acquisition.

And, it makes senses that this consolidation continues from both the vendors’ and acquirers’ perspectives. For example, we all know that one of the key profitability indicators of print businesses is the asset utilisation rate. Consolidation allows for a dramatic increase in utilisation rates, and with that the opportunity to improve profits.

We recorded 23 in this small to medium enterprise (SME) sector, about one a fortnight, however we know there far more. For example Ascent Partners made eight sales during the year, and due to privacy requests only five are provided in this listing.

You will note that the following list only relates to SME businesses (or assumed SME businesses). The larger businesses were reported in part 1 of this series – click here to view.

The below list was developed after the collation of data from Ascent Partners monthly Market Watch Bulletin. This bulletin is available on the free subscription basis from their web site,  www.ascentpartners.com.au.

Next week, in the final part of our overview of FY 12, we will provide a list of the major Sales and installations of equipment in the industry.