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St Regis Acquires Waterleaf Studios

Completing its second acquisition of 2011, Indianapolis-based St Regis Crystal (asi/84592) has purchased Toronto-based supplier Waterleaf Studios (asi/95418), the companies have announced. Financial terms of the deal, which was first discussed only one month ago, were not disclosed. "This acquisition presents tremendous opportunities for both companies," says Richard Firkser, president & CEO of St Regis Crystal. "Waterleaf Studios has spent 28 successful years developing its creative, innovative and technical skills. We look forward to growing this fantastic line."

Founded in 1983, Waterleaf specializes in cast paper plaques, custom framing, certificate programs, corporate artwork and stained glass. According to the terms of the purchase agreement, all Waterleaf manufacturing and shipping will be relocated to the St Regis Canadian facility in Markham, Ontario. Beginning in the spring of 2012, Waterleaf - which will maintain its ASI number and continue to produce a separate catalog - expects to fulfill its U.S. orders from the St Regis plant in Indiana. "Waterleaf is very well-known in Canada, but we plan to introduce its concepts more in the U.S.," says Firkser.

Established in 1999, the St Regis Group supplies awards, recognition products and corporate gifts. According to Firkser, St Regis has increased 2011 revenues by 32%-33% over the last year. "We've been able to get a little bigger piece of the cake and improve market share," he says. Besides Waterleaf Studios, St Regis Group also owns Prestige Glass (asi/79398), The Martin Company (asi/68915), Etching Industries (asi/52770), St Regis USA (asi/84592) and St Regis Canada (asi/84595). St Regis acquired Prestige Glass in May of this year.

Bullet & Leed's Offer Deep Discounts on Freight to Canadian Market

Freight now costs significantly less for Canadian distributors ordering from Bullet (asi/42424) and Leed's (asi/66887), divisions of promotional products leader Polyconcept North America. The reduced shipping rates will drastically reduce overall order costs and reflect Polyconcept North America's commitment to supporting its Canadian distributor partners.

"We understand that freight has become a more transparent cost for the end-user and how important it is for our distributors to cut costs where they can, delivering a more affordable all-in price to their clients," explains Craig Morantz, vice president of sales at Polyconcept North America. "The reduced shipping rates into Canada will help our distributors save time and money because they won't have to shop around. They can count on both strong inventory and in-demand products while keeping order prices low when doing business with Bullet and Leed's."
Reduced shipping rates are now reflected within the freight estimators on Bullet's and Leed's websites -  bulletline.com and leedsworld.com.

Polyconcept North America, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the world's leading promotional products supplier Polyconcept, operates Leed's, Bullet, JournalBooks and Trimark, four of the most successful brands in North America. A Counselor Top 40 supplier, Polyconcept's total ad specialty sales for 2010 were $320.1 million, a 16.2% increase over the previous year. For more information, contact Melissa Lehman, marketing communications specialist at Polyconcept North America: (866) 533-3724 x3123; mlehman@polyconceptna.com.

Exclusive Interview with Spector & Co.'s Marc Giroux

Asking five questions in five minutes, Promogram Canada wanted to get a glimpse of how the Canadian ad specialty market is faring in the third quarter. In the last installment, we spoke to two top distributors. Here, we asked Marc Giroux, vice president of Spector & Co. (asi/88631), a family-owned, multimillion-dollar supplier company based in Toronto, about his views on the health of the Canadian marketplace.

Promogram Canada: What's your sense of how the Canadian ad specialty market is doing in the third quarter?
Marc Giroux: Although I don't see any downward trend, sales have yet to be truly consistent.

PC: How is your company doing - up, down or the same from last year at this time?
MG: We are up moderately year-to-date.

PC: In your opinion, are there markets (education, automotive, etc.) in Canada where sales of ad specialties are growing?
MG: There isn't one market or industry that is clearly up. Some of the technology and financial areas have resumed spending, but no specific industry is leading the pack from what we can see.

PC: What's the biggest concern among Canadian suppliers right now?
MG: I think there are two things. Sales growth and the resumption in spending have not been consistent or easy to anticipate. This alone would be a challenge to managing inventories, but manufacturers in China have not resumed pre-2009 production capacities and are not able to meet demand as quickly. Pricing has been very inconsistent, fabrication times are getting longer and price quotes are shorter. Also, for Canadian suppliers active in the U.S., the weakness of the U.S. dollar has meant a tremendous drop in profits and makes pricing very challenging.

PC: What advice would you give to ad specialty colleagues in Canada who may be discouraged by shaky economic indicators?
MG: I would keep working hard to develop opportunities. I really don't think we will see significant decreases in spending, so we need to be ready for when it does resume and opportunities begin to rise.

PC: What's your predication for sales in the Canadian industry in 2012 - up? down? the same?
MG: I think overall sales will increase, but not by much; it will really depend on whether spending levels start to revert back to pre-2009 levels.