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Melbourne-based trade printer Whirlwind Print and sister company Whirlwind Print (NSW) have gone into liquidation just days after managing director Andrew Cester told staff in an email that he was selling the business. Separate ASIC notices posted on Wednesday said Whirlwind and its NSW branch had appointed Andrew Hewitt and Ahmed Bise from accounting firm Grant Thornton as joint liquidators. The move comes after weeks of speculation about the future of the leading trade printer. More to follow.

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Xerox shareholders have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a proposal to restructure the company under a new holding company. The reorganisation was first floated by the board in March, two weeks after a US judge rejected the company’s bid to dismiss a $US1 billion lawsuit filed by Fujifilm over the termination of the proposed $US6.1 billion merger between the joint-venture [Fuji Xerox] partners. Holding companies can make it easier to sell divisions and contain litigation.

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Perth-based Mills Sign & Painting Service, which has provided painting and sign writing services to oil companies throughout Western Australia for almost 60 years, has appointed joint administrators and called a meeting of creditors.

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Landa CEO Yishai Amir says three of its groundbreaking Landa S10 Nanographic printers are now in full production at sites in Europe and Asia, while a Landa S10P perfector press for commercial printing is up and running in the US. The first Landa W10 press for flexible packaging will be shipped later this year.

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Konica Minolta has introduced its Prokom production print user community program to Australian customers. Already operating in the US and Europe, Prokom offers market research, information and practical tools for commercial printers. 

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IVE Group business Blue Star Direct says the new HP PageWide T370HD press is part of a $5.5m upgrade that will expand the company’s personalised direct mail offering.

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Sydney fashion print design studio Longina Phillips Designs has continued its long relationship with Epson by making 'a major investment' in a new SureColor printing solution.

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Australian-owned global online design giant Canva, a partner of Melbourne printer PMI, has advised users to change their passwords after a weekend cyber-attack stole data of an estimated 139 million users.

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The new 162.5cm Océ Colorado 1650 production printer builds on the breakthrough productivity, output quality and media versatility of the Océ Colorado 1640, while delivering optimal performance for print service providers producing high volumes of applications such as self-adhesive vinyls, wall coverings, canvasses and soft signage.

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After a slight decline over the past five years, the global printed signage market is forecast to reach $US43.7 billion ($A63 bn) by 2024, with a total of 10.8 billion square metres square of signage and point-of-sale media printed, according to new research data.

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SCREEN GP Australia has announced availability of its PlateRite Ultima 24000N series of thermal plate recorders capable of up to 24 x A4 pages on a 1632mm x 1325mm plate. 

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Paper company and wide format supplier Spicers has won approval from the Federal Court of Australia to call a meeting of its shareholders next month to vote on the proposed takeover of the business, formerly PaperlinX, by Kokusai Pulp & Paper (KPP).

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“We were primarily offset but there’s a big move towards digital and that was not a strength of the business,” says David Kugel, managing director of Komori house Network Printing Studios at Alexandria in Sydney’s inner west, which has gone into liquidation after 17 years.

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Australia’s biggest printer Ovato, formerly PMP, went into a trading halt on Monday as it launched a $15.5 million equity raising to strengthen its balance sheet and accelerate work on the Warwick Farm ‘Super Site’ in Sydney. The company confirmed early on Wednesday that its shares were expected to be back on the market at the opening after institutional investors raised $11m of the offer and retail investors took up $4.5m.

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A Federal Court judge in Perth has called a case management hearing next month as lawyers continue to look for a solution to the dispute between the ATO and Perth printer Picton Press over an unpaid $1.3m tax bill.

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FESPA has been forced to add another hall with an extra 5,000 square metres of space to cope with heavy demand from companies eager to take part in FESPA 2020 in Madrid, Spain. 

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Ricoh is shifting some production of its multifunctional printers from China to Thailand to avoid tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump in his escalating trade war with China.

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Epson is making PrecisionCore printheads available to third-party developers and will begin selling the inkjet printheads globally in the first half of the 2019 fiscal year. Wide Format Online publisher Andy McCourt says the move is very good news. 

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Auckland printer Permark Industries has won the gold medal for Functional Printing at this year’s FESPA Awards presented in Munich during the Global Print Expo. Melbourne’s Massivit 3D house Seen Technology won two silvers and Cactus Imaging of Sydney was awarded a bronze medal and a distinction award for its Amex Building Wrap at Sydney Airport.

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The Australian Sign & Graphics Association (ASGA) has called a meeting of its members in Brisbane next week to address new federal building code legislation relating to Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding. The breakfast meeting follows well-attended ASGA events in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide.

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Epson has launched two new SureColor SC-S signage printers, the SC-S60600L and the SCS80600L at FESPA. The 64-inch printers are an extension of the award-winning SureColor SC-S Series printer range.