Widthwise 2024


didn’t plan to invest in any new equip- ment at all over the next two years - they are almost as reticent this year with 52% expecting to spend nothing and only 22% definitely in the market for a new wide-for- mat printer. Also, as in last year’s survey, the vast majority - 77% of respondents - don’t plan to make any investments in finishing or soſtware. Tere are some outliers - 7% expect to spend more than £150,000 while 4% already plan to invest in AI - but the overwhelming majority of companies seem to be of a mind to invest primarily on a ‘needs must’ basis. There are quite a few industry-specific


reasons for this cautious approach. Many companies are still focused on earning a return on investment from their recent purchases. The technology - especially with digital printers - is significantly more reliable and durable than it was even five years ago. There is also a perception among many print service providers - probably not entirely accu- rate, but reinforced at this year’s Drupa, where most of the developments in inkjet were aimed at packaging and labelling - that many new large-format launches offer only incremental improvements on the machinery they already own and are, therefore, unlikely to reduce their unit


costs so significantly that they gain an enduring competitive advantage. Tere is probably also still something of a


hangover from the Covid pandemic, which placed many print companies under severe financial pressure, encouraging managers to rebuild by focusing more on improv- ing turnover, margins and cashflow than buying new kit. In fairness, to properly understand the


British wide-format sector’s recalcitrance on capital investment we need to take a broader view. Such an authoritative source as the Financial Times recently argued that successive British governments must share much of the blame over corporate invest- ment. In a damning editorial, the Pink ‘Un lambasted them for failing to establish a stable set of capital investment incentives which companies could rely on, running capital allowance schemes that are less com- petitive than the UK’s main rivals, skimped on backing for environmental and digital investment (even the promising idea of R&D tax credits has, many small businesses complain, been undermined by shiſting policies and the HMRC’s intransigence), raising corporate tax rates to 25% and utterly ignoring the toll exacted by business rates, a tax on property more onerous than in any other economy in the G7. Given that


every significant capital expenditure is a statement of faith in the future, it’s no won- der that so many print companies in the wide-format sector - as in so many other British industries - are holding back to see what happens now under a new Labour government. The problem here is that UK Plc,


which increased capital investment by a modest 5.5% in 2023, is already lagging well behind its foreign competitors and wide-format, on the evidence of the past two Widthwise surveys, has been lagging well behind other British companies since 2022. Asked how much they plan to spend on new plant and equipment over the next two years, 78% of respondents said less than £20,000 with another 11% saying under £75,000 (these proportions were pretty much identical in 2023). Te significant minority - 22% - likely to


acquire a wide-format printer in the next two years are veering towards UV curable flatbed printers, with UV curable hybrid, UV curable roll-to-roll and solvent printers also high on the shopping list. A similar proportion of companies looking beyond the pressroom are most likely to be invest- ing in design soſtware, workflow soſtware, e-commerce/web to print and laminators. Te one enormous - and perfectly un-


Q22. What is the rationale behind your technological investment? Not investing


To improve efficiency


To move into new applications/markets To increase capacity


To enhance print quality To improve speed of output


2%


9% 9%


4% 24%


52%


18 | Widthwise 2024 | www.imagereports.co.uk


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