A Sydney printer has invested in its next round of growth by acquiring a stationery business and more than doubling its digital capacity.
Imagination Graphics bought Amazing Paper last month and installed a Konica Minolta Bizhub Press C8000 in August. It is also rolling out its new Agfa web-to-print software after becoming the first Australian firm to order Apogee Storefront.
Owner Emmanuel Buhagiar told ProPrint the six-staff firm had invested about $250,000 in the three deals.
[Photos: Who was at Imagination's celebration party?]
He said Imagination had picked up 500 new customers in the Amazing Paper acquisition and that the two businesses offered strong cross-selling opportunities.
Amazing Paper's former director, Kevin Jeffers-Palmer, will remain with the business, which will move in January from its Enmore site to Imagination's nearby Marrickville premises.
Amazing Paper will be open seven days a week, which will mean more exposure for Imagination, said Buhagiar.
He added that Imagination would gain even more exposure after Jeffers-Palmer's wife, Rosemarie, decided to relocate her independent bookbinding business, Sydney Bookbinding, to the same site.
Imagination's new Konica Minolta press will run alongside a Bizhub Pro C6501, which was installed in 2009, and an Epson Stylus Pro 11880 wide-format printer.
The Bizhub Press C8000 prints, folds, stitches and collates, all inline, and will mainly be used for business cards, brochures and magazines, he said.
"It prints so well and so quickly and the registration is good. The colour is so close to offset it's unbelievable. I'm not doom and gloom. I want to get out there and sell and win work."
Buhagiar told ProPrint the new press would partly be used for trade work. He said about 60% of Imagination's revenue comes from trade work – with about 90% of that being pre-press and 10% digital printing.
Buhagiar also said the firm believed in treating its suppliers fairly. "Imagination has had a reputation for 15 years that it pays all its bills in 30 days," he said.
[Related: More news about acquisitions]
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