"We've come a long way" - IVE's first year

IVE Group did better than it promised in its stockmarket launch by turning in a  $20.9 million profit for its first year as a publicly listed company.

The parent company of Blue Star Print, which describes itself as a marketing and print communications provider, topped off a busy year of company buyouts with a $12 million new manroland Rotoman heatset press for its Silverwater factory. The latest press investment follows the installation of a ten-colour Heidelberg perfector.

According to Geoff Selig, chairman, the first year's results are well up on previous results and better than the company's propsectus. "We’ve come a long way since our family founded a suburban newspaper printing business in 1921. It has been a seminal year for the business as we successfully transitioned from private to public ownership, delivering a financial result with all performance metrics above our prospectus forecasts and well up on the previous year," he said.

The company increased revenue by 13 percent over 2015 to $382 million. “Our 13.2% increase in pro-forma revenue over FY2015 reflects continued organic growth, increased revenue from our existing customer base through an expanded service offering, and contributions from acquisitions,” Selig told the ASX.

Over the year, IVE boosted its revenue by inking major new deals with Westpac, Vodafone and McDonald's, and rolled over existing contracts with Tabcorp, American Express, TAL, Foxtel, RACV, Bupa, QBE Insurance, AMP, Beyond Blue, Bauer Media, and Next Media.

The group also acquired six new businesses during the year. “We continued to execute on our disciplined acquisition program, with the bolt on acquisition and integration of four businesses [Oxygen8, Laser Computer Services, Fineline, Frost Promotions] together with the acquisition of two uniquely positioned businesses [Pareto Group, JBA Digital] that further expanded our product and service offering,” said Selig.

Selig told Print21 that printing would remain integral to IVE's business through its Bluestar subsidiary. "Printing will continue to remain an important part of our broader offering to the market. Bluestar’s not going anywhere, it’s a very important part of our group," he said.