Cimpress, the global company which owns Australia’s biggest web-to-print business Vistaprint, has seen a 19 per cent revenue growth for its December quarter, with sales up to US$439.9m. Speaking with Australian Printer, Paul Heath, vice president of Vistaprint Australia, New Zealand and Japan, says the company does not break down the growth figures for Australia; but says that sales increased in the last quarter, with the rise due to its ‘creative advertising campaign over the Christmas’ period. “I cannot give you specific information about Australia because it is considered part of the Asia-Pacific branch, and being part of a global company my hands are tied,” Heath says. “However, Australia has been enjoying continued sales as a result of targeting higher valued customer, which is a customer who seeks a better quality product.”

Paul Heath, vice president for Vistaprint Australia, New Zealand and Japan

Presenting its growth figures Cimpress says they were strongly influenced by the fluctuating global currency market, with seven percent of the 19 per cent growth was due to sales. Robert Keane, president and CEO of Cimpress says, “We delivered good results across the business in our second quarter. Quarterly revenue reflected continued improvement in the growth of our Vistaprint brand as a result of our investments in our customer value proposition, as well as continued strong growth of our recent acquisitions. “Profitability, operating cash flow and free cash flow were also strong. In November, our shareholders supported the name change of our corporate parent company to Cimpress, as a clear reflection of our strategy to extend our mass customisation capabilities well beyond our traditional Vistaprint-branded business.” Cimpress says it ‘expects revenue increase of more than $1.43bn – $1.47bn or 16 per cent growth over the coming year’. That is if the currency fluctuation and the sales growth continue in its favour. The company saw a 14 per cent boost to its Asia Pacific revenue last year, after its announcement of higher value print and printed products. Excluding the businesses it acquired during the past twelve months, the Cimpress gross margin increased slightly year over year from its 67.4 per cent figure from the previous year. However gross margin (revenue minus the cost of revenue as a percent of total revenue) in the second quarter was 64.4 per cent, down from 67.4 per cent in the same quarter a year ago, with the year-over-year reduction in gross margin was primarily due to the recent acquisitions of Printdeal (formerly named People & Print Group) and Pixartprinting, which have lower gross margins than the Vistaprint-branded business. According to Cimpress, as of December 31, the company had $77.9m in cash and cash equivalents and $346.9m of debt. After considering debt covenant limitations, as of December 31, the company had $399.1m available for borrowing under its credit facility. The company says it expects to make capital expenditures of approximately $85m-$95m in the nxt year. The majority of its planned capital investments it says are designed to support the ‘planned long-term growth of the business’. This year, it says an investment of $20m will be allocated to build a new manufacturing facility in Japan, and $20m in the expansion of product lines and other new manufacturing capabilities. Heath says that Vistaprint is also in the process of introducing signage expansion in the company’s signage range, which will be presented to the trade in February.

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