PMP grew its business by 5.6 per cent in
the half year, achieving sales of $702m, with both printing and distribution
recording growth. In addition the company secured several long term contracts
pointing to a secure future.

It is only three months since PMP bought
Victorian heatset operation Argylle Times Graphic, in a deal which gave Times'
Asian owners an 11 per cent stake in PMP. This foothold into Asia, and a lack of heatset
printers in Australia has led to speculation that PMP may be considering buying an
overseas printer, following the growth strategies of Amcor and PaperlinX.

Brian Evans, CEO at PMP says, "The acquisition (of
Times) gives us a strong relationship with Times' former parent, Times
Publishing of Singapore, whose operations in Asia
mirror PMP in many respects. We are actively exploring the potential for Asian
based joint production facilities."

Australian heatset printers not owned by
PMP include IPMG, AIW, Franklin Web, Webstar, Cadillac and Rotary Offset, of
which only the latter would be considered as open to offers, but unlikely to be of interest to PMP.

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