Communisis PLC Regulatory News (CMS)

17 June 2013

Communisis plc

("Communisis" or the "Group")

Planned re-structuring of production facilities and indirect overhead reduction

Leading provider of personalised customer communication services, Communisis plc (LSE: CMS), announces the following plans to re-structure certain production facilities and reduce indirect overheads.

Cheque production at the Group's Trafford Wharf site in Manchester will cease by the end of 2013, subject to consultation, and production will move to the Communisis site in Leeds.

The Leeds site will be reconfigured with a substantial amount of the remaining, more commoditised direct-mail print being outsourced and managed instead through the third party supply chain. The more specialist, higher margin direct mail and other production will remain in Leeds. The changes will provide the capacity needed to accommodate the cheque production transferred from Trafford Wharf and the printing of other transactional communications, acting as a supplementary facility for the Group's operations in Liverpool.

Indirect overhead costs will be further reduced as processes and support services are streamlined to improve efficiency.

These changes are expected to yield annual cost savings of approximately £4m from 2014 and give rise to a net exceptional charge of £3.5m in 2013, with a cash cost of £2.8m in the second half of 2013 and £0.7m in the first half of 2014. The restructuring is consistent with the Group's strategic objective to deliver double digit margin on sales (excluding pass through) over the next three years and will also provide scope for planned reinvestment in new skills and services.

Andy Blundell, Chief Executive of Communisis said;

"These plans are aligned with the Group's strategy to reduce its exposure to the more commoditised sector of the print market by focusing on higher margin specialist production and to improve margins by reducing costs and improving capacity utilisation."

About Communisis

Communisis is a UK leading provider of personalised customer communication services that specialises in helping clients communicate with their customers more effectively and more profitably in fast-changing markets.

Communisis has a reputation for production excellence and innovation and is trusted by many leading, consumer-facing brands to design, produce and deploy multi-channel personalised customer communications accurately, securely, reliably and at scale.