Paarl Media News

New General Manager for Shopper's Friend

Werner Lindeque has been appointed as the new General Manager of Shopper’s Friend. He began his career in 1996 as a junior graphic designer, and quickly progressed as a result of his exceptional leadership qualities, effective management style, high standards of work quality and ethics, fanatical attention to detail, as well as his willingness to learn. These remains evident throughout his career to date, and are an integral part of who he is today. His track record clearly displays that he has acquired all the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to be an exceptional asset to any company for which he works.

Werner has worked as Publisher for Wilbury and Claymore, a publishing company which was acquired by Media24 Magazines during the course of the previous year.

In this role, he was responsible for the publishing and managing of various B2B market leading publications, such as Medical Chronicle, PedMed & Adolescent Medicine, Healthcare Review, Laboratory Marketing Spectrum, Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, What’s New Doc. He also secured Custom Publishing contracts such as Netcare Magazine and Medi-Clinic Diaries. Prior to joining Wilbury and Claymore in 2006, he was the Group Brand and Visual Communications Manager of Netcare.

We wish Werner best of luck in his new position.

Paarl Media and Primedia astounded at Competition Commission ruling

Paarl Media and Primedia are astounded by the decision by the Competition Commission yesterday (6 December 2011) to reverse the unconditional approval it gave in January 2011 regarding the acquisition by Paarl Media of Primedia@Home.

“Our legal teams are studying the decision, but the likelihood is that we will refer the matter to the Competition Tribunal to reconsider the Commission's decision,” said Stephen van der Walt, CEO of Paarl Media and Geraint Crwys-Williams, Group Commercial & Legal Executive at Primedia.

In a joint statement the representatives of the respective companies said: “When the Competition Commission completely reverses its own decision on the same set of facts, the resulting commercial anarchy bodes ill for economic growth and jobs in future. Any attempt to undo the merger will mean the loss of over a thousand jobs. With this inexplicable reversal the reputation of the Competition Commission suffers a grievous blow.”

The companies said the Competition Commission has now prohibited a merger which has already been fully implemented, with the knowledge and approval of the Competition Tribunal. As the Tribunal recognised in its ruling in July 2011, Paarl Media was legally entitled to integrate Primedia@Home into its Shoppers Friend operation after voluntarily notifying the transaction to the Commission and receiving unconditional approval from the Commission in January this year.

Paarl Media and Primedia do not believe it is practically possible to reverse a merger process which has been completed, and even if a reversal were possible, Primedia has no intention of resuscitating the Primedia@Home operation.

“We have already implemented the merger, and the considerable investments we have made have been a success. How does the Commission expect us to undo this, and who will compensate the affected employees for the loss of their jobs and us for the expense we have incurred legally, and with the endorsement of the Competition Tribunal, after the Commission gave us unconditional approval? ” asked Van der Walt.

“In our view the Commission’s decision is incapable of being implemented – you cannot unscramble an omelette.

“This illogical and incomprehensible ruling is going to make business question the validity of every decision the Competition Commission has made in the past as well as the permanence of decisions made in the future. In the space of 10 months the Commission has delivered completely opposite decisions on the same facts.

“The Commission's decision will cost more than 1 000 jobs if it is implemented. It is a waste of resources, it is bad for business and it does great damage to the public good.

“This transaction was below the financial thresholds where notification was required. We did so voluntarily because it was good corporate governance. The way the matter has been handledis likely to make other companies do everything they can to avoid South Africa's competition procedures.

“It will be up to the Competition Tribunal to restore confidence in our competition authorities.”

Van der Walt assures staff and clients that it would be “business as usual” at Shoppers Friend while the legal process continued.

Crwys-Williams confirmed potential job losses if the merger was reversed.

“We will close Primedia@Home if it is handed back to us. This means the loss of between 1 200 and 1 400 jobs.

“The only other potential buyer for the operation is Caxton, who objected to this merger. If Caxton bought Primedia@Home, significant competition issues would come up. It’s a non-starter,” he said.

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Paarl Media Management Structure Announcement

In response to growth and organisational changes experienced, the Paarl Media Group has reorganised the structure of its executive team to support the continued success of the business.

Stephen van der Walt, CEO of Paarl Media, explains: "Over the last three years, we have acquired Paarl Coldset, set up a new heatset plan in KwaZulu-Natal, re-capitalised both Paarl Media Cape and Paarl Media Gauteng, invested in a new distribution system and the establishment of distributions centres, as well as rebuilt Paarl Print into Paarl Media Paarl."

He highlighted the following changes, promotions and additions to the executive team, which will be implemented in 2012 to optimise the management structure to focus on the core growth areas of the organisation.

Paarl Media bursary trust award 2011

For the fifth consecutive year, a group of students from the Boland area have been awarded bursaries from the Paarl Media Bursary Trust for tertiary study in 2012.

At a function for the new and existing students, held at Lemoenkloof Guest House on Tuesday, 10 November, Nico Grobbelaar, Human Resource Director of Paarl Media, welcomed and congratulated the six successful applicants and their families. Since the inception of the Trust in 2006, thirty three students have qualified for this financial assistance.

Lambert Retief, Non Executive Chairman of Paarl Media, acknowledged the efforts of the existing students, explaining the award process; "The successful recipients were selected by the Board of Trustees based on financial need, academic performance to date, relevancy of course as well as demonstrated leadership and community involvement."

New Cerutti Publication Gravure Aurora Press

Both the Paarl Media Group and Cerutti organisations announced the acquisition by the Paarl Media Group of a Cerutti publication gravure Aurora press at the annual meeting of the European Rotogravure Association in Munich, Germany, this week.

In a move shadowing the evolution of the print media industry, Cerutti has promised a full production date of 01 September 2012.  Given the logistics around this three storey, 400 ton press, this will be an amazing achievement.

Given that the R3.5bn recapitalisation of the Paarl Media Group over the last three years has been centered around web offset technology, the question can be fairly asked as to why a R150m investment in new publication gravure technology.

Launch of the Paarl Media Academy of Print

The new Paarl Media Academy of Print is set to raise the benchmark in print training, strengthening the skills level in the industry in the years to come.  An official launch function was held on 30 March 2011 at the dynamic training facilities in Paarl, with guests invited including the Acting Director General of Higher Education and Training, Gwebinkundla Qonde, as well as staff, suppliers, clients, media and representatives from the London City & Guilds and MAPPP SETA.

Paarl Media Acquires PRIMEDIA@HOME

The Paarl Media Group is pleased to announce their successful acquisition of PRIMEDIA@HOME.  The Competition Commission has granted unconditional approval for the transaction, which has an effective date of 1 November 2010.

Paarl Media Bursary Trust Award 2010

For the fourth consecutive year, a group of matriculants from the Boland area have been awarded bursaries from the Paarl Media Bursary Trust to begin further study in 2011.

Stephen van der Walt awarded the Hubert Coetzee Award for Management Excellence

On Tuesday, 27 July, Stephen van der Walt, was awarded the Hubert Coetzee Award for Management Excellence at the Media24 Conference.

Paarl Media Business Lounge at the 2010 Cape Town Book Fair

At this year’s Cape Town Book Fair, Paarl Media is focusing on bringing their payoff line, “Where printing is personal” alive, through offering a strong personal service to business people.