Grafica Veneta continues to grow in the Stars and Stripes market. The Padua group, printer, among others, of books by Elon Musk, Barak Obama, the current US vice president Kamala Harris and the Harry Potter epic, after the operation closed in 2021 with the merger of Lake Book (Illinois) , has made a new acquisition overseas. Yesterday it signed the agreement to take over the majority of PA Hutchison (PAH), a historic company founded 113 years ago by Philip Alvord Hutchinson – great-grandfather of the current president – based in Pennsylvania and specialized in the production of school and teaching books.
With this further deal, explained the Trebaseleghe company led by Fabio Franceschi, “a further step has been taken in the path of international development, thus also starting growth in the American school publishing market”.
Grafica Veneta Group already holds the European leadership in the school segment, while in the United States it is making an important leap into a strategic sector. The goal is to increase production capacity with Pah, going from 50 million books produced today in the Pennsylvania plant to over 100 million.
Objectives that will be pursued thanks to huge investments, through the contribution of four-color rotary printing technology which will allow us to increase the offer to American publishers operating in the school sector. «We are entering a very important segment for us in the United States, which was armored» explains President Franceschi. With the expansion in Illinois, “which came into operation earlier than expected”, the USA becomes a market with a weight of 70% on the group.
The acquired company, he further explains, “has a production of around 50 million books per year which we expect to be able to double in the short term and a turnover close to 50 million dollars”. The development strategy in the American market is something that is increasingly on the horizon of Grafica Veneta: «We believe it is strategic to fully realize the potential of the group».
As regards the production trend, Franceschi anticipates that, given the way things are going, the target of 350 million books can be said to have been exceeded. “If we continue like this we can reach 500 million books.” He doesn’t say too much about revenues, but on the 2022 data, with revenues of 200 million, he announces: “We are 30% above.”
