CeWe Color concludes restructuring activities

In addition to the production plant in Paris, CeWe Color will also be closing down the smaller plant in Teplice in the Czech Republic, which the company had taken over in a process of market consolidation in 2007. Business will then be concentrated on the more efficient, far larger plant in Prague.

Target structure reached

With these final plant closures, CeWe Color is already reaching its target structure in 2009, company said. Restructuring expenses in the current business year will not exceed a volume of around 10 million euros, which will nevertheless have a positive effect on operative earnings as early as in 2009. In the period from 2005 to 2009 alone, CeWe Color invested a total of more than 50 million euros while the number of photos from films declined, in order to gradually concentrate the production of digital photos at large,efficient plants. While a plant produced an average of only 108 million photos a year in the business year of 2000, this figure now amounts to approximately 200 million photos. Chairman of the Board of Management Dr. Rolf Hollander: “We commenced with the task of restructuring the company in the process of transformation at an early stage and prepared CeWe Color for the world of digital photography in good time – not only technologically, but also in terms of plant structure. The restructuring phase has now been concluded.

No longer extra costs

As of the business year of 2010, CeWe Color will be operating an efficient system of production throughout Europe, so that the company will no longer be reporting any extra costs relating to restructuring. Restructuring the company for the transition to digital photography has reduced CeWe Color profits by more than 10 million euros per year since 2005 alone. Rolf Hollander: “We are proud to have mastered the process of transformation with positive results every year and to have maintained an extremely sound capital ratio of 42.9%. As of 2010 we will no longer have to bear restructuring costs.”

Increases through CeWe Photo Books and commercial digital prints

CeWe Color is ideally positioned for the digital world. With the most popular offer worldwide, the CeWe Photo Book (more than 2.6 million books in 2008) and with photo gift articles, CeWe Color has successfully transferred its original line of business, photofinishing, into the digital era. The majority of CeWe Photo Books are produced with digital printing methods. This newly-acquired digital expertise and the sales know-how of Diron, a company acquired by CeWe Color in 2008, will also enable CeWe to benefit from the strongly growing market of commercial digital prints. Rolf Hollander: “CeWe Color is emerging stronger from the analogue/digital transformation. We are now in a position to once again focus the strength of the entire company on increasing sales and earnings.”