One of the most anticipated moments of the Print4All Conference was the speech by Stefano Portolani, Senior Analyst of the Printing Studies Centre of Stratego Group. Portolani presented and commented on the 2023 market data during the 2024 edition, held on 11 July in Valpolicella at the Villa Quarata Resort.

In a scenario where the overall trend for the sector, which includes the paper industry, graphics and paper converting machinery manufacturers, the graphics industry and the paper converting industry, was a 13.4% decline in turnover, how are printing companies with a turnover of more than 3 million euros faring? As Portolani explained, the first thing to look at is the macroeconomic scenario. The analyst echoed the sentiments of Michele Bianchi, President of the Federazione Carta e Grafica, who reminded the audience during his speech at the Print4All conference that in order to get a clear picture of the market situation, it is essential to place the 2023 results in the context of trends over a longer period. In fact, if the performance of the companies in the sector analysed by CSP was stable before the pandemic, it recovered rapidly after the end of the lockdown period in 2022 and recorded significant figures. A trend that is impossible to replicate if it is included in what we can define as "normal" market performance, measured over the three-year period 2021/2023.

So how did 2023 go? As Portolani pointed out, not all companies have yet published last year's accounts, so there could be some surprises in the results. The panel analysed includes 864 companies in the graphics and paper industry, with a total turnover of 16 billion euros, employing 59 thousand people and belonging to 4 macro-sectors of our industry. The panel of companies whose financial statements CSP analysed saw a 2.6% drop in revenues in 2023 (2022 had seen an increase of over 10%).

These companies were operating in a market situation in which inflation had a strong impact, a surge that now seems to have subsided, but which left a trail of high prices, especially for energy, a factor that influences the economic capacity of our country. The price of oil, which had fallen during the pandemic, stabilised in 2023 and now shows an upward trend due to ongoing conflicts. Gas has seen the greatest growth, to the point where governments were forced to intervened to cap the price, which is now falling. However, European countries are developing strategies to reduce import dependency and implement alternative solutions to gas. Aluminium, which has seen the greatest price increases, saw its price drop in 2023, as did cellulose and container shipping costs, which had recently reached prohibitive levels.

Stefano Portolani also reported on the results of a survey conducted by CSP on a wider panel than the big printing companies to outline the evolution of the sector in 2023: 40% of the companies involved reported a drop in turnover of around 10%, but the figure that Portolani defines as "exceptional" is the growth in EBITDA of 18% (it was +19.6 in 2022), a result that the analyst believes is due to dynamic stock management and price increases.

In terms of profits, +8.8% (+30% in 2022) is another positive figure confirmed by the survey.

What can we expect for 2024? According to most of the companies surveyed, the positive trend in profits will be confirmed.