Page 72 - Print 21 Magazine Sep-Oct 2021

People in Print
the OVERflow
Ovato EGM approves retail distribution sale
Ovato shareholders voted overwhelmingly to support the proposed
sale of the retail distribution business to Are Media, and on a new $2.5m short-term loan from Are.
Are Media is the biggest magazine publisher in both Australia and New Zealand, and a major Ovato shareholder. The retail distribution business was formerly known as Gordon & Gotch, it distributes some 2700 magazines in Australia, and 1800 in New Zealand.
The EGM was held online, and chaired by Ovato chairman Michael Hannan. It saw 99.75 per cent of shareholders support the motion to sell Retail Distribution, and to take the new loan..
The Distribution business will now be sold to Are Media in two tranches, with Are paying $10m for the Australian business, and taking on
$22.5m of the debt. Are will also pay $5m for the New Zealand business, and will take on $4.5m of the debt. The Australian deal was scheduled to go through on 31 July, with the New Zealand sale targeted for 30 August. The separation is to account for differing timelines for regulatory approval in the two countries.
Directors recommended sale: Michael Hannan
The number of magazines distributed by the business in Australia and New Zealand has shrunk by a third over the last four years – from 226 million in 2018 to150 million last year, with the last two years both seeing 15 per cent declines.
Some 40 per cent of revenue in the business comes from Are Media titles. Overall revenue has diminished from $72m in 2018 to an estimated $60m this year. EBIT though has increased by 50 per cent over the same period, from $4.3m to $7m.
The deal, and the $9m sale of Ovato’s marketing services businesses into a new Hannan entity, leaves Ovato fully- focused on print.
For Are Media it will create a vertically integrated business: it owns its publishing
business, it owns 16.38 per cent of Ovato, while its parent company Mercury Capital owns most of heatset printer Webstar in New Zealand,
and it will own the retail distribution business in both countries, giving it ownership of publish, print, and distribute in both countries.
The new $2.5m interest- free loan from Are Media Holdco to Ovato is on top of the existing $2.3m loan from the same entity. It will be used to make priority payments
to employees, to enhance the working capital, to repay debt, and to assist in restructuring.
The sale comes as part of
a strategy to be a fully print- focused operation at Ovato. All its marketing services business have also been sold, to a Hannan owned entity, leaving Ovato as a pure print business, as the company aims to turnaround its losses. 21
Print industry rallies around McManis family
The print industry showed its generous heart, using a GoFundMe page to rally around the family of Sydney printer Adrian ‘Aido’ McManis, who sadly succumbed to his cancer last month.
Print friends, colleagues past and present, companies, and industry strangers, all contributed to the fund, which will be used to help Aido’s wife Jaimi and two young children, Toby aged three, and Oscar just one, get past the next
few months.
Aido was cremated, with just ten people in attendance due to Covid restrictions. There will be a bigger event for the broader family, friends and colleagues once lockdown has ended.
To contribute to the fund and make a donation to help the family at this difficult time please go to https://www. gofundme.com/f/help-aido- with-the-fight-of-his-life.
all their savings on Aido’s 72 Print21 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
to be senior account manager. Ian Lindsay, former owner
of Lindsay Yates who took McManis on from school, said: “It would be wonderful if people contributed, Jaimi and the
boys are going to find it very hard. Adrian was a great guy,
he worked hard to progress his career, he put himself through night school and did really well. He was a very popular member of staff at Lindsay Yates.”
Rawson Print Co paid the following tribute, saying, “Sadly we have lost one of life’s true characters with the passing of our senior account manager Aido. Whether it was his huge personality, comical character impersonations, loud and infectious laugh, or his outrageous moustache, you couldn’t help loving the guy and his generous nature. Always positive and caring about others until the very end... he will be missed. Vale Aido McManis.” 21
Vale: Adrian ‘Aido’ McManis
McManis, aged just 35, was
diagnosed with cancer during the Covid time, however, treatments were not successful, and it spread to an advanced stage in his liver.
With a mortgage and no life insurance the family faces a difficult future, but the kind support of printers will ensure some breathing space for the family, who had exhausted
treatment. The GoFundMe page raised a remarkable $43,000 in just a few days.
Latterly at Rawson Print
Co, McManis spent his whole working life in the print industry, spending 14 years at Lindsay Yates before joining Rawson three years ago. He started in print at Lindsay Yates as a junior customer service rep, working his way up