Pixartprinting with Vistaprint to conquer the world market

The undisputed leader in the market of web -to-print for professional operators in Italy, amongst the five most important players at European level, today Pixartprinting faces the world market. April 1, 2014 saw the official announcement of the signing that sees the entry of Vistaprint as a world leader in printing online, into the company for a total value of 127 million euros. Vistaprint will acquire a stake of 97% in Pixartprinting and the remaining 3% will be owned by the founder of Pixartprinting. The agreement includes an earn-out of up -scale indexed to a maximum of € 10 mln for Pixartprinting, subject to the achievement of target sales and EBITDA for the year 2014. This is an agreement that will fully enter into the history of the online press, representing the largest transaction to date in this area at European level.

Redacción Alabrent

Pixartprinting is a prime example of success whose history is well known to users in this sector. Founded in 1994 as a family business, the year 2000 saw the switch from off to on-line with the application of a new business model, focused entirely on ecommerce and orientated towards internationalization. This was a pioneering choice, especially in the mature market of printing, which over the years has seen the gradual evolution from a family business to managerial organization, determining the exponential growth in double digits, and the conquest of the main European markets. The year 2011 saw the entrance of the private equity fund company Alcedo, which worked alongside Pixartprinting management, contributing to the achievement of results in terms of revenue growth, development and opening of foreign markets, increase in management, expansion and strengthening of production. Today, the new goal is shared by Vistaprint to cross the boundaries of the Old Continent with an eye to the world market. This is a development plan already outlined from its infancy in the entrepreneurial vision of Matteo Rigamonti, founder of Pixartprinting: “The print market B2B online still has great potential. Vistaprint is an additional accelerator for us to approach new markets alongside a multinational company listed on the Nasdaq, with offices worldwide and synergistic to our business”.

The numbers depict the rise of Pixartprinting, an example of Italian entrepreneurship excellence, which, alongside Vistaprint, will continue on its course, looking to the global market: 32 mln turnover 2011; 41 million in 2012; 56 million in 2013. Over the past two years, the Venetian company scored an average increase in sales of more than 35% and EBITDA growth of approximately 43%, reaching, in 2013 an EBITDA of more than 15 million Euros.

In the face of a major expansion in the local market despite the current economic environment, growth abroad is one of the drivers on which the company has based the development plan. Pixartprinting operates in the European market as a multinational company: for each country considered commercially viable, a "virtual store" has been created, with personalized workflows and shops now available online in 11 languages. "The impact abroad is increasing year by year. This makes our reality more stable and less susceptible to changes in individual markets, "says Rigamonti. Successes achieved in recent years through a strategy of geolocation that today is seen as the basis for even more ambitious targets with Vistaprint.

Robert Keane, president and CEO of Vistaprint states: "We believe this agreement will lead to benefits both in terms of the sharing of know-how, expansion of the range, savings in the production process and logistics management, focusing on the strength of the individual brands that will continue to operate independently with their own identity and position.”

Keane goes on to say: “We can count on a consolidated strategy to achieve competitive advantages of scale in our operations. We continue to make great progress from the traditional Vistaprint point of view of the repositioning of our brand and we have won the trust of many kinds of customers, i.e. those small businesses that make up the vast and fragmented universe of print. We believe that the approach of Pixartprinting will help us meet the demands of a market segment that Vistaprint has not yet served. Pixartprinting has a history of success, with a rapid growth in sales and profits and high levels of customer satisfaction. Pixartprinting has much to teach us and together we will expand the range of products.”

Robert Keane’s enthusiasm is shared by Alessandro Tenderini, CEO Pixartprinting: “Our goal is to cross European borders. We have a cohesive team dynamic, which now has 330 employees, ready to face a new challenge. They are our primary resource on a daily basis to ensure the quality of product and service that distinguishes us in the market and our source of ideas for anticipating new trends”.

Pixartprinting operates and produces from its headquarters in Quarto D'Altino (VE), which is spread over an area of 18,000 square meters. The 24/7 service is guaranteed to more than 100,000 active customers in Europe, with product production of about 5,000 each day.

Pixartprinting

SECTIONS: Imprentas, Servicios de impresión digital I-30020 QUARTO D’ALTINO, Italia More information