Image Press deal sets stage for $5M in revenue in 2009

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Aug 1, 2008 by Hogan, Annette

BOTW PROFILE

Christopher Arnone

President and co-owner

The Image Press

* Age: 42

* Education: Jefferson High School, Rochester

* Year became president: 1996

* Favorite part of the job: Working with the customers and employees. "They're great people."

* Hobbies: Sailing and snowmobiling

* Favorite types of movies: Action

Lonnie Dahl

Vice president and co-owner

The Image Press

* Age: 42

* Education: Roswell High School, Roswell, N.M.

* Residence: LaFayette

* Year became vice president: 1996

* Favorite part of the job: Getting involved with new products

* Hobbies: Riding motorcycles and skiing

* Favorite types of movies: Action and comedy

BOTW FACTS

The Image Press

2221 Erie Blvd. E.

Syracuse, N.Y. 13224

Phone: (315) 449-3474

Fax: (315) 449-3480

* Type of business: Full-service graphics provider

* Products/services offered: In-house photography, design, display rental, interior and exterior signs, trade show and vehicle graphics, banners, and direct application wall and floor murals

* Year founded: 1991

* Employees: 32 full time; 3 part time

* Headquarters square footage: 10,000

* Company officers: Christopher Arnone, president, and Lonnie Dahl, vice president

* Annual revenue: Projecting $4 million in 2008 and $5 million in 2009

SYRACUSE - Adding large-quantity screen-printing services and large-chain customers has the co-owners of The Image Press, a Syracuse-based printing business, predicting revenue will reach $5 million next year.

Christopher Arnone and Lonnie Dahl recently purchased the printing equipment and client list from. Northern Graphics, a town of Lysander-based digital- and screen-printing company. Image Press, which generated annual revenue of $2 million before the deal, expects the acquisition to double its revenue to $4 million in 2008. It employs 35 people following the acquisition.

Dahl and Arnone declined to disclose the purchase price or other financial terms of the acquisition. They said they financed the deal through Citizens Bank.

The former owner of Northern Graphics, James Pittenger, remains with the company, employed as a full-time salesman. Pittenger says that after 35 years of doing sales, customer service, finances and labor, he was worn out and needed more free time.

"It was time," says Pittenger, adding that the business was having a good first half of the year. The 60-year-old has a five-year contract with Image Press. "It was kind of an exit strategy," he says.

Now, Image Press will offer large-scale, high-quantity screen-printing with the newly acquired equipment. These "flat bed" printers also enable printing on any two-inch or less thick flat material, such as plywood, plexiglass, steel, or rolled adhesive vinyl, as well as paper.

Now, the firm can print 2,000 to 3,000 banners at a time, compared to 200 to 300, says Dahl. He is referring to vinyl, point-of-purchase displays produced for large grocery store chains. The merged company now owns five VUTEK print ers. The largest-format printers were part of the new purchase, as was access to larger chain customers such as Wegmans, Sbarro, and Price Chopper.

Other Image Press clients from before the acquisition, include Time Warner Cable, Empire Vision, Aspen Dental, Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes,

Syracuse University, and Cornell University.

Image Press competitors include area sign makers such as Fast Signs and Sign-A-Rama.

The Image Press is temporarily leasing the 20,000-square-foot Northern Graphics building located at 8435 Loop Road in Lysander as well as operating its own 10,000-square-foot facility, which it owns, at 2221 Erie Blvd. E. in Syracuse.

The Image Press plans to relocate the combined company into one 35,000-square-foot building within the next three to six months. Dahl says his company is negotiating a property purchase. He declined to comment on the price or location of the new building.

When arrangements have been made to move, the co-owners will sell or lease the current 10,000-square-foot building on Erie Blvd.

Pittenger says he will sell or lease the Lysander building, and has one party interested. His asking price is about $650,000. He has not yet listed the property with a real-estate company.

Dahl and Arnone have co-owned The Image Press for 13 years. Both men have been in the printing business for almost 25 years. Their experience includes a stint working together at a company called Litho Services in Syracuse.