Stream Solutions slows search for acquisitions

Plans to expand Stream Solutions’ operations in both Australia and overseas are on hold in the face of challenging economic conditions and a lack of good businesses to buy.

At last year’s annual conference, Andrew Price, (pictured) general manager of Stream Solutions, the largest print management company in the region, told suppliers that the company was on a “serious acquisition path” throughout New Zealand and Asia.

Not long after the world was tipped on its head with the advent of the GFC (global financial crisis). With this in mind, Stream is now taking a slower approach to acquisitions.

According to Price, the Toll Group entity, is a “conservative” business with a fastidious approach as to who it does business with. At this year's conference, he asserted that Stream will not buy businesses for the sake of buying and will only choose those that present a “good fit” for the company.

“We were going to actively pursue acquisitions, but there’s not a lot of good businesses to buy at the moment,” he said.

Price is optimistic of Stream Solutions’ future and dispelled any talk that the company will lose its identity after it was taken over by Toll, Australia’s largest logistics and transportation solution provider in 2007.

“The question I’ve been asked the most is ‘When is Toll going to sell Stream?’,” Price said. “A lot of people don’t see how we sit with Toll; we fit perfectly well and there are a number of Toll services that we can incorporate into our business. Stream has come home.”

Toll’s financial figures will be released within weeks. In August 2008 it achieved annual revenue of over $5.6 billion. This, according to Price, is an extremely positive sign.

“We are going to be here tomorrow,” he said. “Stream isn’t going anywhere.”

Suppliers tee off on the Sunshine Coast
Over 110 suppliers made the journey to bask in the Queensland sun from 21 to 23 August.

The sixth annual conference, organised almost entirely by Geoff Brennan, manager of strategic sourcing, covered a range of topics from hybrid offset/digital printing workflow, meeting customer’s expectations in a challenging environment and the requirements of printing for the public service.

"We did consider cancelling the conference but decided that proceeding was the best thing to do for the industry," said Brennan. "We were very pleased with the attendance and feedback in this climate."

Well done, Geoff, for putting on another great show.

Pictured: the Stream team gather on the green after Friday's Strategy Day.

Mitchell Jordan’s complete fly-on-the-wall account of the two-day conference will be published in the October issue of Print 21 magazine.