Q&A with Adam Baldwin and Tom Pearse, Print

What are the main challenges for customers over the next 12 months?

Adam - Ongoing consolidation in the industry may impact margins as large groups win more contracts, which could drive prices down. Technology is also moving faster, and it may be a challenge to keep up with changes that affect productivity and quality. Inflation – which has been a consideration for some time now - will continue to affect the SME marketplace, where most of our customers operate.

Tom - A challenge I think firms will face is falling behind on investment cycles, which is something we’ve noted over the last few years. Technology has moved on significantly and, for some businesses, investment has been put on the back burner. The repercussion is that they risk falling behind their competitors. This is where we can come in: not only to support the business through investment cycles, but also look at ways of making it a more seamless and affordable process.

What sets Close Brothers apart?

Adam - We can structure payments and finance packages to help customers maintain their technological advantage by keeping up with change cycles. Factoring in industry specific seasonality within the wide format market (where eight months of the year trading is affected by major holidays and the summer period), we can provide customers with tailored solutions based on their own specific needs, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

Tom - Being specialists within the sector and understanding your business from bottom to top allows us to understand every challenge a print and packaging business may face. With this in mind, we offer flexible options tailored to each customer, whether that is structured repayments to suit business seasonality, deposit and VAT loans, or purchases from overseas suppliers. The key factor is that we do not remove the human element: our clients always have a dedicated specialist available to discuss, review and personally process any enquiries, with particular attention to detail. We value face-to-face meetings and providing that personal touch to each customer at all levels of lending.

Why is FESPA an important event for the industry?

Adam - We’ve attended FESPA for the past four years and in that time we’ve seen the show grow significantly. It’s a real coming together of the entire wide format and digital world and is a great place to share knowledge, catch up on trends and meet movers and shakers within the industry. With any kind of large event, hearing more about changes and challenges in the industry allows us to understand the needs of the customer and how we can best support them.

Tom - FESPA is important to the industry because it showcases all the new technology in the wide-format industry under one roof. It enables customers to see all the kit that may pique their interest and also explore new ideas to help them diversify and grow. With FESPA also adding the ‘corrugated’ section of the show, this will encourage a wider range of businesses to visit and explore their next investments.

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