In a move designed to enhance its national advertising programs, R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Pro Line Printing Inc., a privately held producer of newspaper inserts headquartered in Irving, TX, for $122 million.
Products Pro Line Printing manufactures are inserted into newspapers, distributed via direct mail and used for in-store circulation. The company has production operations in Arlington, TX; Reno, NV; Avon, CT and Pineville, NC.
RR Donnelley plans to combine Pro Line’s facilities with its own existing offset capabilities in Indiana to serve insert programs across North America. The company expects customers will benefit from increased flexibility and to realize immediate selling, procurement, utilization and other synergies.
In other news from RR Donnelley, the company reported a fourth quarter net loss from continuing operations of $292.9 million, or $1.37 per diluted share, compared to a net loss from continuing operations of $1.1 million, or $0.01 per diluted share, in the previous fourth quarter.
Net sales in the quarter totaled $3.1 billion, up 25.2% from the previous year. In the US print and related services segment, net sales increased 19.8% for a total of $2.3 billion, due to the acquisitions of Banta, Perry Judd’s and Von Hoffman as well as sales increases for logistics services, books, stock products and financial print offerings. These increases were offset in part by volume decreases in commercial print and direct mail offerings.
