Waratah Group businesses Embassy Print, MW Assets and Waratah Digital are officially in voluntary liquidation, four months after the group went under with debts of at least $12m.

The increasing global nervousness over the coronavirus is starting to impact print, with ink and equipment manufacturers among those dependent on China now looking at dealing with the looming Covid-19 shadow.

The world's major wide format expo Fespa Global 2020, due to take place in Madrid in three weeks time, has fallen victim to growing coronavirus fears and been postponed.

Controversial signage outfit Skope and its various associated entities are in administration, just six months after it managed to transform a $2.3m debt in a closely related manufacturing arm into a favourable DOCA, leaving rivals fuming.

Konica Minolta is launching a new digital embellishing system, the MGI JV 3D One. It is targeted at commercial printers, and it enables them to bring embellishing in-house. General manager Sue Threlfo describes as 'perfect for our Aussie market'.

Plans for local trade show Visual Impact on the Gold Coast next month are progressing unabated, with organisers saying that the Covid-19 outbreak is not expected to prevent the industry’s largest sign and display expo opening as planned 30 April – 2 May.

Growth slowed in the out of home industry last year, with 2019 showing a total increase of 1.5 per cent on net media revenue last year – but spend on print fell by eight per cent, according to the figures from the Outdoor Media Association.

A US research report showed that many American printers saw revenue growth last year and many are optimistic about prospects in 2020.

Australian Associated Press (AAP), the national news agency supplying stories to national and regional newspapers, is closing, unable to compete with the free information on the internet used by newspapers as they all struggle with costs.

Xerox has officially launched its hostile takeover bid for HP, asking HP shareholders to sell their stock at $24 a share, and giving them seven weeks to do so.

Penrith Print Museum finds a safe haven for its overflow of printing exhibits with the industry’s largest paper merchant able to store the heritage items in Sydney, writes James Cryer.

As fears over the coronavirus sweep over the world, causing cancellations of major events in affected areas, giant international trade show drupa says it is all systems go for the June event, with no plans to cancel.

National print business Ovato (formerly PMP) struggled to make headway in the first half, with all figures on the slide on the back of the softer economic environment in Australia. Its share price fell by a quarter on the results. Outside advisors have now been brought in.

Sydney signage and large-format printer Easy Signs will move into a larger factory in April, tripling its floorspace, just a few years after its previous massive upgrade.

Flexible packaging printer ePac has broken the production record on its fleet of HP Indigo 20000 digital presses operating around the world, pumping out 20 million impressions in January.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is approving Orora’s sale of its Australasian fibre business to Nippon Paper subsidiary Australian Paper.