Woodford Group report details imaging industry financial woes

A tweet came across this morning from @DOCUMENTmedia, with an alarming if not altogether surprising headline, "Imaging Industry at Lowest Margins Ever".

The link is to an article summarizing a new report, from none other than the Woodford Group (see my blogroll), and it summarizes the results contained in the company's latest compilation, detailing the quarterly revenues and profits for the imaging industry.

Quoting from the article, which has as its primary source Rob Sethre, CEO and principal analyst at Woodford Group (emphasis via bolding is mine):

The first and most obvious of these [negative factors] is the tightening-the-belt effect that most companies experience in the face of a serious economic downturn. Both at channel and end user levels, restriction on purchasing is strictly enforced, as is tighter inventory control. Secondly, many imaging industry firms are opportunistically restructuring, which affects their bottom line. The final and perhaps most significant influence on the imaging industry is the shift in usage patterns, specifically a reduction in overall print volumes. This is difficult to quantify because it is overshadowed by the other gating influences. Although all three radically affect revenue and margin, the third influence will likely have the most lasting impact on the industry as a whole.

While Woodford has a five-year history of the quarterly reports, I imagine they'd agree that the "lowest ever" in the headline would qualify as a bit of an over-statement, as "ever" is a long long time!