Revenue was up from $275.3m in the previous year, but this was due to the acquisition of Red Paper Group in Australia (including the Edwards Dunlop and Raleigh Paper merchants), which effectively doubled the size of CPI in Australia.

Net profit was positively impacted by the return of $5.7m from Stora Enso, which came as a result of CPI wining the final battle in the five year war over Boomerang Paper’s debt to Stora Enso at the time that CPI bought Boomerang.

CPI’s EDITDA was up by 1.6 per cent on the previous year to $6.2m, with EBIT the same as last year at $4.8m.

Although paper and machinery faced challenging growth conditions CPI reported its inks business traded strongly. CPI bought Choice INks in January. CPI says it is realising back office savings since the purchase of Red Paper.

Overall the paper business, which is by far the biggest part of CPI, saw volumes decline, with downward pressure on margins, although CPI was able to firm prices in June. The company, along with all other merchants in Australia, is about to raise its paper prices by around 10 per cent across the board, with the price hike slated for October. However the rise will not deliver additional margin to CPI, it will be used to account for the slump in the value of the Australian dollar.

CPI’s machinery business saw a good first half, but sales slowed in the second half due to printers waiting for new technology releases at drupa. However CPI says machinery sales at drupa were ‘strong’ and will be reflected in the first half figures for the current financial year

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