Gold Coast sign business So Wrapped Signs has been wound up by order of the Supreme Court in Queensland and a liquidator is sorting through the company’s assets and creditor list.

The Salvation Army has launched a Bushfire Disaster Appeal to support communities affected by the devastating bushfires in New South Wales and Queensland.

HEXIS Group, a world leader in the automotive protection market, has announced a strategic collaboration with Racing Optics, a US company that specialises in multi-layer optical films. The companies signed a partnership deal at last week’s SEMA Show in Las Vegas, NV.

McDonald’s restaurants in Sweden are replacing roadside billboards with signs that double as ‘bee hotels' - permanent wood installations with drilled holes that provide a safe haven for wild bees. The pilot scheme, run in collaboration with outdoor advertiser JCDecaux, may be rolled out worldwide, says the fast food giant.

Visitors to FESPA Global Print Expo 2020 (IFEMA – Feria de Madrid, 24 – 27 March, 2020), Europe’s largest exhibition for screen and digital wide format print, textile printing and signage, will discover “a content-rich event including a program of features designed to inform and inspire in equal measure,” say the organisers. ‘Wrapping’ and ‘Printeriors’ are two new categories added to the FESPA awards.

LIA Biennial Award winners Jason Turai (2017) and Jonathan Pitt (2019) have received their prize money and are making plans for the ‘trip of a lifetime’ to drupa 2020 in Dusseldorf, thanks to the sponsorship of industry groups the Print & Visual Communication Association (PVCA) and Visual Connections.

MetroWrapz of Hollywood in Florida has won the Avery Dennison ‘King of the Wrap World’ title, for the second consecutive year, with its Creature from the Wrap Lagoon wrap, which transformed a 2017 Acura NSX. 

 Canon has completed more than 1000 global customer installations of its Colorado roll-to-roll wide format printer series, powered by UVgel technology. The new Colorado 1650 debuted in Australia at PrintEx19 in August and is now rolling out across the country.

Spotting trends early on can make fortunes and cause disuption to entrenched markets. Established only in 2016 by Jack Knott, ePac spotted the trend towards shorter run, fast-delivery flexible packs, particularly pouches. The business is growing at break-neck speed, primarily based on theHP Indigo 20000 760mm flexible packaging web press with attendant converting.

News fresh out of the USA is that Xerox's offer to acquire HP is valued at USD$33 billion in cash and stock and is backed by Citigroup, with investor Carl Icahn masterminding the deal in the background - but what is the real reason behind this mega-strategy? Could it be largely to supply the global food & beverage packaging and textile markets?

HP has released a statement from its headquarters in California over increasing speculation that Xerox is considering a cash-and-stock bid for HP, and that the Xerox board discussed the idea on Tuesday. HP said: “We’ve had conversations with Xerox from time to time… most recently, we received a proposal transmitted yesterday.” 

In a bizarre twist to the Xerox/Fuji Xerox/Fujifilm 'menage', Several financial media in the USA are reporting that Xerox may make a 'minnow-vs-whale' tilt at HP, and not the other way around as we reported recently.

Yesterday saw digital print house Carbon8, recently moved into the former Blake & Hargreaves Marrickville, NSW premises, open its doors to delegates from no less than three industry associations: the ‘Society of Old Friends’ now in its 110^th year; the Press Gang and members of the LIA.

US-based Xerox will sell its 25% stake in Fuji Xerox - its joint venture with Japan’s Fujifilm Holdings - for $2.3 billion, after billionaire Xerox investors Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason last year blocked a proposed $6 billion merger deal between the two companies. As part of the new agreement, Fujifilm has agreed to drop its $1 billion lawsuit against Xerox over the failed merger.

If you acted upon our Tuesday newsletter's 2 Melbourne cup tips, you'd be well up financially! We tipped two horses for each-way wagers, one didn't come in the places but the other 'Vow & Declare" took out the line honours and paid handsomely!

The National Roads and Motorists' Association (NRMA) has slammed a proposal by the NSW government to remove speed camera warning signs from 110 locations across the state.  Online critics have described the proposal as “blatant revenue raising.” 

Massivit 3D has teamed up with Streetfighter LA, producers of wide body kits and auto parts, to demonstrate rapid prototyping capabilities for large car body parts at this week's SEMA trade show in Las Vegas – venue of Avery Dennison’s Wrap Like A King global final. 

The LD-300 Laser Decorator goes beyond foil decoration on soft plastics to include larger three-dimensional items, says DGSHAPE Corporation, a subsidiary of Roland DG and a leading provider of digital fabrication tools.

Mactac has introduced the second generation of its popular B-Free Window Films. Innovations include a stiffer facestock that offers improved panel-to-panel alignment and a new adhesive pattern designed for easy installation.

The new Colorado 1650 roll-to-roll production printer is rolling out across the country, with new stock on the water and technical training underway to meet demand generated at PrintEx19 in Sydney.

Wrap trainer Justin Pate of US-based The Wrap Institute will be back in Australia this month to present his popular workshops in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.