Beyond OPocalypse to
Before the Coronavirus pandemic tragedy the OP market was collapsing with paper & printer makers running below half 2010 demand levels. The 'Essentials' supply focus is a stark reminder that unless business suppliers' service includes hygiene & safety, refreshments, foodservice, IT & packaging products, the future is bleak. Every cloud has a silver lining.... Weekend
'Essentials' ease
The CV shutdown of all businesses except 'Essentials' supply by national & local government in US & UK would normally close office supply dealers. Those progressive resellers that have embraced broadline business supplies, have continued inc. home delivery, even though it means more, smaller individual drops at higher cost to serve....
Mask up delivery
"The coronavirus (CV) pandemic shows the need to overhaul how to treat delivery & frontline customer service teams" writes Business
Insider's Diana Enriquez. Good advice for dealers in business supply to ensure service teams 'mask-up' to reassure customers & get CV tests if they sense the symptoms... Updated
Hygiene Suppliers
The Coronavirus pandemic has hammered consumers & business supply demand with worse to come. Meanwhile, food & beverage, pharmacy & home technology suppliers are booming inc. makers & distributors that responded to the urgent need for greater personal protection & higher hygiene standards.. We review case studies... Updated
Buybacks v
Veritiv, the tailspinning US #1 paper merchant just announced a share buy back plan at a time when sales & profits were crashing pre CV. Meanwhile, many corporations are calling for bail out support from government as survival becomes their priority. How do they reconcile this greed with the CV pandemic about to explode across the US?
LSC Comms: Lost,
Messy conglomerate LSC Communications, parent of old OP brandmakers graveyard (TOPS, Ampad, Pendaflex, Quality Park) reported steeper sales decline & losses in Q4'19. Complacent CEO Tom Quinlan is in denial over its terminal tailspin...
Depot drives
Office Depot's Federation acquisition programme added its 12th & 13th dealers in February. A small OP dealer in Florida and a regional foodservice & hygiene supplier in Minnesota. Will it or won't it consolidate the renewed roll up of smaller dealers?
Paper/printmakers'
Most of the leading OP, Paper & Print makers reported continued sales declines in Q4'19. We analyse the market, comparative performance and any plans for reinvention. Paper demand is plunging double-digits with no price hikes to disguise the deceleration, now down 60% since 2008... Updated for LSC Comms today
FSi fortifies in
Leading US independent dealer FSi Office has acquired a fellow women owned neighboring dealership consolidating the NCarolina market.
Paper & HyPac
The spate of acquisitions activity in the paper, hygiene, safety and packaging supplies distribution market has accelerated in recent years led by Bunzl. CNG and Imperial Dade. We review the market turmoil with new category growth balanced by plunging printer paper demand. Who will be the winners & losers? Updated
'HP pls buy Xerox'
In discussions with ex-HP CEO Dion Weisler in September, Xerox CEO John Visentin (activist lead shareholder Chainsaw Carl Icahn's puppet) said he preferred to see it acquired by HP because it would take too much debt for Xerox to acquire HP. We speculated on this approach on 10 Sep'19 and still feel this is the likely route forward
Is printing dead?
Bloomberg Business Week has published an article by Austin Carr & Nico Grant headlined "Printing's not dead. The $35Bn HP/Xerox fight over ink cartridges". In our view it trivializes the subject whilst overstating the importance of these old tech giants that have been in serious decline for years.
Wayfair wave
Wayfair, the $9Bn in sales US/UK home & office furnishings etailer, continued to scale up to meet demand from micro businesses. It reported strong but rapidly decelerating growth again in Q4'19, as it tries to overcome well publicised leadership & delivery service issues
Disrupted DIRTT's
DIRTT Environmental Solutions, the tech design/installer of sustainable office & residential interiors, experienced a dramatic dive following the management disruptions of 2018/19. The new CEO blames continued poor management execution
Resolute losses
Resolute Forest Products a leading Canadian paper, pulp and tissues maker reported disappointing Q4'19 financial results today. Core sales declined again plus negative results from sales of mills in South Carolina & Virginia.
"Tomorrow's News Today,
not yesterday's news tomorrow."
