Printing.com in transition

Namely, with small- and medium-sized enterprises increasingly using the internet to source print work, the company has spent £2m over the past two years improving and extending its online services. Printing.com continues to support traditional franchises, but only those that offer upgraded graphics and other advanced services.

In what management calls a "frenetic period in (its) evolution", revenues from printing services and online sales rose from £3.45m to £3.79m in the half year to the end of September. In contrast, traditional print turnover fell from £6.74m to £6.18m. A weak euro accounted for the overall sales decline, while pre-tax profits were unchanged at £510,000 if a redundancy payment of £160,000 is ignored.

For many investors the big attraction is the dividend yield. And now that the big online investment is complete, dividend cover should improve as capital spending falls. Also, more internet business should equate to less pressure on working capital. Broker N+1 Singer forecasts 12-months sales down by £300,000 to £21.5m and adjusted pre-tax profits up from £1.3m to £1.6m. N+1 also expects year-end cash balances to rise from £1.8m to £2m, and to £2.9m 12 months later.