27 May ‘Daddy Kate acquires Overijse-based printer DV3’ – Grafisch Nieuws (May ’21)
With the takeover of printing company DV3 in Overijse, DaddyKate, the Claes family’s graphics group, is on its fourth acquisition in less than two years. According to Thijs Claes, Daddy Kate’s CEO, this takeover will generate around two million euros of extra turnover on an annual basis.
“Every crisis offers opportunities,” says Thijs Claes, the CEO of Daddy Kate in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw in Flemish Brabant. The family-owned graphics group did not stand still during the corona crisis. Thijs looks back on corona year 2020 with satisfaction. “April was our worst month, turnover fell by 50 per cent compared to April 2019. Year-on-year, we managed to limit the damage to a five per cent drop in turnover. Without the additional sales from our acquisitions in France, we would have collected a 12 per cent contraction.”
Thanks to temporary unemployment, costs were under control and 2020 ended with a profit. Consolidated turnover for 2020 is €23 million. The group has 125 employees.
DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN ACQUISITIONS
Since July 2019, Daddy Kate has been setting foot in northern France with the acquisition of Becquart Impressions in Tourcoing. Two more French acquisitions followed in 2020: Imprimerie Dumoulin in Libercourt and Carte Blanche in Neuville-en-Ferrain. “They are three successful acquisitions. They will be merged into one company Daddy Kate France in Libercourt in the autumn,” states Thijs Claes. The family CEO expects the French branch to turn a turnover of €7-8m. The team in Libercourt has 25 employees. Printing is done in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, finishing in northern France.
In his own country, too, Thijs Claes continues to search for acquisitions. “To grow in a shrinking market, you have to keep looking at acquisitions,” he says. In April, Daddy Kate took over Overijse-based printer DV3. DV3 was the company of Erik De Coster, Tanja De Page and Joris Van Coetsem. The print shop was founded in 1967 by Felix De Coster, Erik’s father, who took over in 1992. Joris Van Coetsem joined the company in 2001.
“DV3 specialises in high-end printing, it employs 15 people. The branch in Overijse will be closed at the end of September and most of the people who want to can work in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw. With this takeover, we expect to realise an additional turnover of two million euros on an annual basis,” says Thijs Claes.
FOUR MILLION EUROS OF INVESTMENTS
Daddy Kate’s investment rate also remains level. This year, the company is investing some four million euros in new machines. Late last year, a digital press HP Indigo 7eco was installed. This spring, it made way for a new Heidelberg eight-colour offset press (XL106-8) and an Agfa Tauro hybrid flatbed printer. “Since summer 2018, we have already invested around seven million euros at Daddy Kate,” Thijs Claes knows. Daddy Kate is committed to diversification and is active in offset (60 per cent of sales), digital printing (30 per cent) and large format printing (10 per cent).
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