Weak earnings situation in the printing industry

Printing A survey conducted by the Swiss Association for Visual Communication (Viscom) shows a decline in business in the graphic arts industry in the fourth quarter of 2002.27.1 % of the companies surveyed reported a deterioration in earnings compared to the previous quarter, while 19 percent reported an improvement. The majority of finishing companies (bookbinderies) were able to maintain their earnings (82.1 %), and 10.4 % even reported an increase. The situation is worse in prepress (crossmedia), where 29.4 % showed lower yields and only 0.7 % increased. The capacity utilization rate in the graphic arts industry remained unchanged at 80 % in the 4th quarter.