Kodak is to sell its share in KP Services, the company set up jointly with Guiton Group to bring inkjet printing of UK newspapers to the Channel Islands. That led to installation of Kodak Prosper lines and Hunkeler finishing lines to produce copies of Fleet Street newspapers for local consumption as well as copies of the Jersey Evening Post. Printing in London and flying copies to the islands is not possible for around 30-50 days a year because of fog, losing sales revenue and prompting support for the project.
The project was set up as a joint venture to mitigate the risk for the publisher until the technology proved capable of both serving national newspaper publishers and the local paper which had previously been printed on an ageing litho press. It was always intended that Kodak would eventually bow out. It had also intended to use the presses to print other work that had to be completed on the mainland, for council or utility statements for example, but this has not materialised.
Now, having reached contracts for 20 publications at its peak, Kodak is selling its 85% stake for £2, to All Island Media, the company that now owns the JEP and Bailiwick Express. The deal needs the clearance of local regulators.
In the submission, All Island Media says: “KPS has always been in a weak commercial position because the price of printing each page is set by the national newspaper publishers who have very strong market position.
“As a result, KPS has been a loss making business with no pricing power. This situation does not change because of the acquisition but by internalising KPS as a ‘division’ of the Jersey Evening Post various cost savings are available which will make KPS a breakeven business.”
Most of the UK nationals have contracts in place until May next year with six-month extensions from then, at the discretion of the newspaper publishers.
When set up in 2016, KP Services had hoped to use the inkjet presses in down time to produce some transactional for mainland customers as well as Islands businesses, but this has never materialised.
The change follows the merger between the JEP and Bailiwick Express in October last year.
The success of the KP Services venture in proving that Kodak Prosper inkjets were productive enough to print newspapers, led to other offshore and onshore plants to print newspapers including most recently Guadeloupe.
