Printer crashes as books deal ends

SHAReS at St Ives crashed 14pc yesterday after the marketing group revealed its deal to supply books for Harper Collins would not be renewed.

St Ives failed to reach an agreement with the publisher over the volume and price of printing monochrome books, so the contract ends on June 30.

Harper Collins represents about 3pc of St Ives’ sales and the firm said non-renewal would not materially affect its performance in the current financial year. Instead, it will cut costs in the books division to mitigate the impact.

Following the contract loss the group said it expects a reduction of approximately £11m in sales and £3.5m in earnings before interest and taxes in the financial year to August 2018.

It also expects there to be a £3m non- cash impairment charge in the current financial year.

Matt Armitage, chief executive, said: ‘Although we have recently seen some increase in demand for book production overall, the market remains competitive and we are not prepared to chase volume at uneconomic prices.

‘We will be taking decisive action to ensure that the cost base of our books business reflects the future level of volumes we now expect.’