Closure proves costly for St Ives

PRINTING group St Ives was awash with red ink today after it took a hit for a partial exit from the US and continued to make losses on producing business documentation for City finance houses.

The closure of its brochure-printing operations in New York cost £22m as the group axed 300 jobs. That put the bottom line - up marginally at an underlying level - £5m in the red in the half-year to 30 January after a £15m profit previously. A further £4m hit for the closure of its Tunbridge Wells operations will not be taken until the full-year results.

Sales fell 6% to £208m as chairman Miles Emley said there had been no pick-up in City work and competitors were squeezing the company on price.

Its magazine publishing operations are also under pressure, and the only good news was in the books division, which produced David Beckham's My Side and the best-seller Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss. The interim dividend is held at 5p.