EconomyWatch

Tailwinds not

headwinds, stupid

Are industry observers reading

wrong signs? It’s secular decline,

not economic recession

9 May’13
Paul Ormerod in CITYAM newspaper yesterday opined that Paul Krugman and other leading US economists were wrong in comparing the last recession with the 30’s depression…

Read more: Economic tailwinds not headwinds, stupid

Banner year

builds for o2o

Facilities Show demonstration

of its latest productivity services

9 May’13

office2office’s core company Banner Business Services achieved strong contract gains in 2012 with more in the pipeline for 2013 e.g. RBS. We talked with BBS chief Richard Costin (pic left) about his growth plans....

Read more: Banner year builds for office2office

Staples steers 


3D print drive

Attention! Great services
opportunity for local retailers

8 May’13
As basic copy and print services demand declines for local retailers, so new opportunities in 3D print modeling emerge. As usual, Staples have seized the initiative, but what are the retail buying groups doing about it?

Read more: Staples steers 3D print drive

Plantronics heads

to supersonic sales

Unified Communications (UC) 


and mobile boost sales growth

8 May’13
Plantronics, the global leader in audio communications for business, today reported powerful Q4’13 financial results for the period ended 30 Mar’13

Read more: Plantronics Q4'13 Financial Review

Mundane Max


meandering…


Rambling Ravi continued his


‘ball of confusion’ commentary

7 May’13 
(Complete)

OfficeMax, the US#3 OP reseller, reported disappointing results once again for Q1’13 ended 30 Mar’13. CEO Ravi & Co. continued to get tangled up in tailspinning trivia...

Read more: OfficeMax Q1'13 Financial Review

United’s user focus
driven by Dochelli

Sales force transformed to

match resellers’ personal

productivity services' goals

6 May’13 (Complete)

Harry Dochelli joined United Stationers as VP IDC sales just 12 months ago. After consulting with dealers and his salesforce, he is rolling out a reorganization of his team to match the new dynamic growth needs of individual resellers…

Read more: United'a user focus driven by Dochelli

Economy Watch

The productivity
imperative…

Michael Heseltine sees SMB’s
as the key engine for growth

5 May’13
Former President of the UK’s Board of Trade and Tory big beast Lord Heseltine sees transforming Britain’s productivity as the engine for driving growth. He says that drive needs to be targeted at the regions.

Read more: Economy Watch UK: The productivity imperative

Blackberry leaves

sour tablet taste

CEO Heins sees it becoming #1
in mobile computing by 2018?

5 May’13
Just as researchers reported that nearly 20m Britons will use a tablet each month over the course of this year, BlackBerry boss Thorsten Heins made a surprising assertion: tablets, he said would be dead in five years time.

Read more: Blackberry leaves sour tablet taste

Reasons to

be Cheerful

Why UK economy is

better than imagined

4 May’13

Did last week’s UK GDP figures create a case for optimism about the economy? At face value, no, but the underlying trends are encouraging…

Read more: UK EconomyWatch - Reasons to be cheerful

HP sued over
Autonomy deal

Shareholders claim board
ignored CFO/red flag warnings

4 May’13
Meg Whitman, the current CEO and Leo Apotheker, former CEO, are among a number of HP board members named in a lawsuit brought by shareholders angry at the "waste of billions of dollars of HP assets".

Read more: HP sued over Autonomy deal

Facebook fires
up mobile mania

Ads soar to reach 30% revenue

3 May’13
What a difference a year makes for Facebook. Twelve months ago, the social network barely had a mobile business. Now it’s the fastest growing sales stream

Read more: Facebook fires up mobile mania

N e w e l l  writes

less joyful numbers

When will CEO ‘Prolix Polk’s' 
growth gameplan’ normalize?

3 May’13
Newell Rubbermaid, leading maker of office products and consumer brands today announced steady sales, but weaker profits for Q1’13 ended 31 Mar’13

Read more: Newell Rubbermaid - Q1'13 Financial Review

Boise bound

by weak market

Packaging progress unable to

offset declining paper demand

2 May’13

Leading US papermaker Boise today reported its Q1’13 financial results to 31 Mar’13. The secular decline in paper demand has caused the closure of two machines 

Read more: Boise Financial Review - Q1'13

A r g o s  a i m s
a t  A m a z o n

Plans for fast ‘clicks & mortar’
hubs and printed catalogue cuts

2 May’13
Shoppers will be able to spend less than a minute in Argos catalogue stores collecting items they have bought online later this year…now the majority of its business

Read more: Argos takes aim at Amazon

IP: Packaging
powers ahead

Printing papers demand slows;
xpedx distribution declining

2 May’13
International Paper, the world’s #1 papermaker reported robust results for Q1’13 ended 31 Mar’13. Packaging now represents 62% of sales

Read more: International Paper: Q1'13 Financial Review

Zero-waste makes

Commercial sense

“It ain’t what you do it’s
the way that you do it”

2 May’13
The UK’s #1 progressive independent reseller, Commercial Group has smashed its latest environmental target – achieving Zero Waste status. Sales chief Simone Hindmarch (pic left)leads celebrations tomorrow...

Read more: Zero-Waste makes Commercial sense

Iron Mountain 


flattening out

Storage rental gains in Europe
offset by services declines

1 May’13


Iron Mountain (IRM), the global leader in information management services today reported steady sales results for Q1’13 ended 31 Mar’13

Read more: Iron Mountain Q1'13 Financial Review

Imation: 


impossible


Transformation plan too-
little

-too-late to stem terminal tailspin

1 May’13 


Imation, the former storage media giant, today reported an accelerated rate of deterioration in its financial results for Q1’13 ended 31 Mar’13, plus intensified action to redress and invest in growth businesses

Read more: Imation Q1'13 Financial Review

Systemax
s l i d i n g 

B2B sales slowdown;
retail sales in freefall

1 May’13
Systemax, the tech-direct marketer including Misco, CompUSA, Circuit City and Tiger Direct brands, reported disappointing financial results for Q1’13 ended 31 Mar’13

Read more: Systemax Q1'13 Financial Review

Epson’s relief
from decline

Printer/ink sales slowing as
US/Europe demand stalls

30 Apr’13
Epson, the leading printer and visual presentation products manufacturer experienced a slight recovery from its declining results in Q4’13 ended 31 Mar’13

Read more: Epson Q4'13 Financial Review