Total revenue was down to $169.4m, dropping from the $206.4m in the corresponding period the year before.  The company’s EDITDA was down by 40 per cent on the year before to $2.66m, which left CPI with a $739,000 net loss, compared with a $2m net profit for the six months in the year prior.

The $206.4m 2009 revenue figure represented an even bigger fall of 24.6 per cent over the 2008 figure, and means that CPI’s July to December sales figures have dropped by 40 per cent in two years, indicating it has lost market share to rival merchants, as whatever the print industry’s woes it has not diminished by 40 per cent in two years.

Bernard Cassell, managing director of CPI blamed falling print volumes and fierce pricing competition from rival merchants for the downturn, in his statement to the ASX he says, ”Trading conditions remain difficult with volumes still below the levels of two years ago. In response to these conditions we are witnessing some aggressive market pricing as competitors seek to quit stock and maintain volumes.” Cassell says CPI will gain further cost reductions with the company’s ongoing warehouse rationalisation programme, which has seen the company mover to just one warehouse per state.

On the upside CPI has reduced its net debt by 20 per cent, down to $32.5m from $39.3m.

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