Report on Printing Shipments and Profits

Lexington, Kentucky-based WhatTheyThink.com—an online media organization serving the printing and publishing industry—announced the availability of its most current report titled “Printing Shipments and Profits.” Authored by Dr. Joe Webb, director of WhatTheyThink.com’s Economics and Research Center, the report is available for immediate purchase at www.wttstore.com/prpr.html.

“Printing profits for the last four quarters were $4.6 billion, on an inflation-adjusted basis, comparing favorably with the same period a year ago,” said Webb. “However, overall data from the government and our own forecast models show profitability only modestly improving.”

Built on data from WhatTheyThink.com’s Economics and Research Center, the U.S. Commerce Department and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics from 1995 through the end of 2006, the Printing Shipments and Profits Report reveals that while the most recent government revisions increased shipments and created a new baseline, profits remained relatively flat.

The report contains significant and proprietary analysis by Webb and WhatTheyThink.com’s Economics and Research Center. It includes all segments in NAICS 323 for commercial printing and trade services, such as commercial offset, digital and other printing processes, as well as prepress and postpress.

The cost of the report is $50 and includes Adobe PDF, Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint files, as well as an MP3 file with audio commentary from Webb, featuring his candid analysis, opinions and interpretations concerning restructuring, consolidation and labor trends.