The company has also announced a 131% increase in net profit in its half-year results, but flagged further redundancies in the year ahead.

Chief executive Richard Allely told ProPrint the Clayton redundancies were due to a downturn in the market and the loss of the PacMags contract to IPMG.

"You don't lose the second-largest magazine contract in the country and keep everybody employed – it just doesn't work like that," he said.

Allely said the redundancies would be in printing, plate-making, quality control, engineering and logistics, while the bindery section would be moved to its Moorebank facility in Sydney.

The company would follow the standard practice of first calling for voluntary redundancies, he said, but may have to cut workers to make up any shortfall. The redundancies are expected to be finalised by early March.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union described the Clayton job cuts as surprising and disappointing.

Lorraine Cassin, the AMWU's national secretary for print, told ProPrint she was "disappointed" PMP had not consulted with the union to work out how the redundancies could have been avoided – especially as it had forged a good relationship with senior management in "the last couple of years".

Cassin said the printing industry was under pressure at the moment and her members were "very concerned" about their future in light of PMP's restructuring.

Further redundancies were foreshadowed in yesterday's half-year results announcement, as PMP expects clients to reduce their print commitments in the second half.

PMP has predicted another $8 million of restructuring costs in H2, mainly due to redundancies.

Allely said there was "significant" scope to "drive more efficiency in Australia" as most of last year's restructuring had occurred in New Zealand.

The group's results for the six months to 31 December 2011 have been hit by falling sales and restructuring costs, though bottom-line profits continue to improve, reaching $4.6 million for the period, up from a $14.8 million loss in the first half of 2011.

PMP paid out a 1-cent dividend, the first interim dividend since 2008.

The results showed $5.1 million in restructuring costs, comprising $2.8 million of redundancies and a $2.3 million of goodwill write-down at Gordon & Gotch New Zealand.

Allely said: "I think we've done an excellent job at Gordon & Gotch in continuing to drive out cost in what's been a structurally declining market. The business remains profitable and we continue to find innovative, creative and in some cases unique ways to do the same thing at a lower cost."

Yesterday's results also showed a 28% drop in earnings, a 7% fall in revenue and a 9% increase in debt to $153 million.

The rise in debt was "due largely to lower economic activity, payments associated with the NZ transformation programme and the deposit paid for the new WA press", according to PMP.

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