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Annual Dinner 2009
Alistair Gough's Speech
The print and paper industry needs to
"face the facts" if it is to emerge from the recession profitable and
fit for the future, according to the National Association of Paper Merchants
(NAPM).
At its annual dinner, which was held on 16
April, NAPM President Alistair Gough claimed change was happening at a faster
rate than ever before.
Gough, who is also Robert Horne Managing Director, said nobody could have
foreseen the scale of the downturn, which resulted in an overall sales decline
among NAPM member merchants of 2.5% in 2008, followed by a 16% decline year on
year in January and February.
"In addition to the decline in volume,
credit insurance is being withdrawn at an unprecedented rate," he said.
"We have seen record levels of business failures and bad debt in the
merchant sector, which in 2008 recorded a bad debt of £14m."
However, he said he believed there was hope for the future, providing the market
faced facts and was realistic about the world it now trades in.
"We need to ensure we emerge from the current economic crisis with an
industry that is structured to operate profitably," he said.
"We have a window of opportunity to ensure we emerge from this crisis
stronger than at the point we entered it."
However, Gough said: "With volumes at the levels they are and unlikely to
return to those previously seen, more clearly needs to be done."
At the event, members discussed NAPM's. recent initiative, the Two Sides
campaign. They hailed the paper industry as one of the few truly sustainable
markets, but one that is still surrounded by "negative and ill-informed
information".
Martyn Eustace, director of Two Sides, said that 100 companies have now signed
up to the campaign, but claimed the industry still had a long way to go.
"Paper has irreplaceable properties and it is the flexibility of print that
leads to its success," he said. |
The National Association of Paper
Merchants