It has been a year to the day since the collapse of Focus Press and while the Australian print industry had a tumultuous 2014, there has been markedly less carnage to start 2015.

By the time Focus Press hit the wall on April 11, 2014, the industry had already lost prominent Sydney printers Group Momentum and Rostone, two big Kwik Kopy franchises, and two wide format companies among others.

So far this year, Sydney UV specialist Graphics Plus, Kwik Kopy Tullamarine and WA franchise group Quick Colour Print are the only notable casualties, along with the planned closure of an APN newspaper printing plant.

[Related: More companies in distress]

Australia has so far been insulated from the major collapse of 2015, as Paperlinx UK went into administration earlier this month, but the local business remains profitable and ‘ring fenced’ from any financial issues overseas.

While there is still a lot of the year left and some of 2014’s biggest crashes came late in the year including major Melbourne operations Sumo Visual and On Demand, the absence of any serious collapse sending ripples of bad debt through the industry is a good start that is hopefully a sign of a better, more stable year to come.

As for the hundreds of Focus Press creditors still waiting for their money, that a year has passed with no news on the progress of a $12.9m insurance claim does not bode well, as all funds raised from asset sales have been gobbled up by banks, which were owed $6.6m between them.

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