Wide format printers are anxiously waiting to see if Woolworths manages to sell the Masters hardware business, with $7m of print up in the air.

The 62-strong hardware chain, set up as a $3.3bn joint venture with a US hardware business to take on Westfarmers mega business Bunnings, has been haemorrhaging money, so far racking up $600m in losses and needing a further $200m a year to keep it afloat, with no profit projected until 2020 at the earliest.

The print contract is one of the biggest in the word format display world, running at around $7m a year. It was held by Sumo Visual until it collapsed in late 2014, and since then has been split between several printers.

In addition PMP prints the 28pp Masters catalogue several times a year, which has a print run of 3.3 million in MSW alone.

All this work is now liable to disappear if Woolworths fails to find a buyer, which seems unlikely given the cash need to keep the chain going.

Shareholders in Woolworths supported the exit from the hardware business, its shares were up 6.8 per cent on news of the sale / closure.

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