Business
International expansion plan
International expansion plan.
About this update from Software Circle Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n Printing.com plc\n14 November 2005\n\n\n\n\nFOR RELEASE 7.00 AM 14 November 2005\n\n Printing.com plc\n\n ('Printing.com' or 'the Company')\n\n Specialist retail chain with over 140 Outlets (open or pending) across the UK\n\n \n PRINTING.COM TO OFFER MASTER FRANCHISES TO FUEL INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION\n\nToday at the IPEX 2006 Press Inward Mission Tony Rafferty, Chief Executive of\nPrinting.com, will outline the Company's international strategy for expansion.\n\nPrinting.com's strategy for its international roll out embraces the following\nkey terms:-\n\n * the granting of Master Franchises to established commercial printers \n overseas at an initial licence fee of between £170,000 and £510,000;\n\n * an ongoing royalty of approximately 3% of Total Retail Sales\n\n * a royalty of approximately 20% of local Printing.com licence fees\n\nThe strategy for expanding the Printing.com model outside of the UK & Ireland,\nis based on the granting of Master Franchises, usually on a country by country\nbasis, to established commercial printers overseas.\n\nBy adopting a Master Franchise, instead of setting up a wholly-owned foreign\nsubsidiary, each new venture should eliminate start-up losses and contribute to\nboth profit and cash generation from the outset of each agreement. By partnering\nwith an established commercial printer, with production infrastructure in place,\nthe significant delays of, and capital costs in, establishing a national print\nhub will be avoided; allowing for a faster rate of lower risk international\nexpansion.\n\nIt is believed that there are many commercial printers around the world, capable\nof producing work to the Printing.com standard, that have significant\nover-capacity. Such printers may be operating in the general full colour print\nmarket, and are probably suffering from the widely reported margin erosion, or\nthey may be operating within a niche market, such as, for instance, the printing\nof CD covers, and are now facing the challenges of declining sales.\nThe most recent 'Print Week' survey of the UK's 500 largest commercial printers,\nreported that the average pre-tax profit as a percentage of turnover of UK\nprinters was 2.6%, compared with the 14% margin Printing.com reported in its\nlast audited accounts. Printing.com believes that similar market conditions may\nbe reflected in many other...