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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese opened the national jobs summit on Thursday by announcing a $1.1bn “training blitz” to address the “urgent challenge” of workforce shortages. He also proposed reforms of workplace pay deal bargaining.

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It was blue skies and sunshine in Sydney as golfers took to the greens at the Pennant Hills Golf Club for this week's Visual Connections Golf Day. “The event was another welcome opportunity for the industry’s suppliers, their clients and others from across the industry to enjoy a day of networking,” said the organisers.

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SCREEN Graphic Solutions Co., Ltd., - SCREEN GP in Australia - has introduced a new high opacity white mode that offers more opaque white for the Truepress Jet L350UV SAI S, the company’s specialised UV inkjet label printing system.

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HP’s Printing net revenue was $4.6 billion, down 6% year over year, with total hardware units down 3% - Consumer units were down 1% and Commercial units fell by 15%.

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The PVCA Board met yesterday, courtesy Ricoh's premises, to appoint a revised Board with Matt Aitken - IVE Group - as President. It appears to be a Board compiled to steer the Association through the merger with TRMC, having great depth and experience to draw on.

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Cathy O'Connor, CEO of outdoor media advertiser oOh!media, has been named a keynote speaker at the World Out of Home Organisation's (WOO) APAC Forum in Kuala Lumpur from October 11-13. 

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Ball & Doggett says shipping reliability is improving but several key drivers are placing further upward pressure on prices, including souring energy costs, pulp shortages and currency volatility. “Congestion is forecast to remain at key ports until the first half of next year.”

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Agfa-Gevaert Group has signed a share purchase agreement with asset management company Aurelius Group for the sale of its Offset Solutions division. Under the terms of the deal, Aurelius will acquire the Agfa’s Offset business for 92 million Euro, subject to conditions.

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Avery Dennison announced full-day training workshops in NSW (28 Sept) and Queensland (24 Oct) on automotive tint film preparation and application techniques. Cost is $365 per person.

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HP has introduced Recycled1 Removable Adhesive Fabric, aimed at “the growing market of eco-conscious print consumers." 100% of total PET resin in the product is made from recycled water bottles.

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Epson Australia has announced the inaugural Australian Photographic Prize Awards (APP) and Conference (8-11 September 2022, venues across Melbourne), with over $35,000 worth of prizes across various competitions including the Epson Print Awards. 

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“Despite the proposed acquisition combining the two largest providers of heatset web-offset printing in Australia, we reached the view that IVE was the only viable purchaser of Ovato.” The decision comes a day after IVE announced an agreement - subject to ACCC clearance - to buy Ovato for $16 million.

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Print and marketing business IVE Group says it's signed a deal to “acquire substantially all of the assets of Ovato for a net purchase consideration of approximately $16 million.” [Update: The agreement will not be opposed by the ACCC].

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The Australian Out of Home (OOH) industry reported half year 2022 net media revenue of $478.6 million, up 19.5% from $400.4 million for the same period in 2021.

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$1.6m Lithgow, NSW recycling facility Ecoloop - owned by façade cladding & signage specialist Fairview - diverted 309 tonnes of cladding rectification waste away from landfill projects in NSW, VIC and the ACT in its first full year of operation. “The programme is only beginning,” said Fairview’s Melissa Herrmann.  

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Belgian-German printer manufacturer Agfa-Gevaert was “strongly impacted by cost inflation and supply chain issues” in Q2 2022 but reported continued revenue growth in its sign & display business. “The top line of the wide-format printing equipment business continued to recover from the strong COVID-19 impact.” Agfa's integration of the newly-acquired Inca Onset printers is progressing, with Agfa's own inks now certified for Inca.

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The Federal Court of Australia case management hearing in the Fuji Xerox 'accounting scandal' case, scheduled for 21st Sptember, has been brought forward to Wednesday 1st September in the WA branch of the Court. This tends to indicate that the settlement reached in the New Zealand jurisdiction, may be featured in the accelerated case management hearing. The NZ Serious Fraud Office investigation is still ongoing.

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The Australian Sign & Graphics Association (ASGA) is offering a free set of golf clubs and other prizes at its inaugural Victorian Golf Day on Wednesday, 7 September at the Sandhurst Club. A pre-golf networking event will be held the night before at the iconic Hotel Esplanade (The Espy) in St Kilda. 

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The region’s largest print business IVE Group posted full-year 2022 revenue of $759 million, with earnings before tax up 13% pcp to $96m and net profit after tax up 66% to $33m.

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The Integrate Expo, held last week at Sydney's ICC, Darling Harbour, was supported by ASGA and amongst the main AV exhibits were examples of how digital and printed signage can work in harmony. Projected and LED screen signage is becoming more widespread and many sign businesses have already adopted a dual-channel approach, or dived right into screen-based signs.

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Leading digital printer Peacock Bros used its HP Indigo label presses and HP’s Mosaic variable data software to print 75,000 cans of Little Bang Brewery’s Little Bang Hazy IPA beer - each with a different label.