The data also outlined that compared to the same quarter a year earlier the deterioration was 7.9 per cent. During the 12 months to June 2010 total new capital expenditure outlay in the printing industry stood at $488m representing an improvement of 30.1 per cent on the same 12 month period a year earlier.
Printing industry sales fell marginally during the June quarter compared to the previous quarter. Despite the reported fall, sales were 2.0 per cent higher than the corresponding June quarter a year earlier. For the year to June total industry sales amounted to almost $8.4bn which represents a 5.1 per cent deterioration on the outcome of the previous year.
Pre-tax profits were also reported to have fallen during the June quarter by 2.3 per cent on the previous quarter’s outcome but when compared to the same period a year, the reported outcome is significantly higher.
The final key set of economic data released by the ABS relates to economic growth with the ABS figures showing that in trend terms the printing industry expanded by a modest 0.3 per cent during the June quarter and by 3.6 per cent during the year to June.
For the financial year 2009-2010 printing industry gross value added stood at $3,480m which is 4.1 per cent lower that the previous financial year’s outcome, and 20.9 per cent lower than the reported outcome of two years ago.
Commenting on the official data, Hagop Tchamkertenian, national manager for policy and government affairs at Printing Industries says the sentiment reflected in the official data is in line with that of Printing Industries’ internal data released approximately six weeks ago.
He says, “The official data now confirms what we knew and suspected weeks ago that the June quarter was essentially a soft quarter for our industry.
“While the economic growth data shows a modest improvement for the printing industry, the industry continues to operate at a level that is significantly below the reported levels of the pre-global financial crisis (GFC) period.”
Tchamkertenian adds that the big unknown now for the printing industry is how much of the losses experienced during the recent economic downturn can be realistically recouped.
He says, “If the economy continues to expand some positive flow-on effects to the printing industry should take place. It is however highly unlikely that industry activity levels will return to the levels experienced during the pre-GFC period.”
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