Executive Briefings
Executive Briefing is an in depth look behind the latest major OP news stories.
Exec Briefing: Renewed Staples-Depot takeover talk
13 February 2012Executive Briefing Item
An analyst on the Seeking Alpha website has suggested that Staples could be gearing up to acquire Office Depot.
Exec Briefing: VOW - Laser-focused stickiness
7 February 2012Executive Briefing Item
UK wholesaler VOW hosted its second annual VOW+ partner event last week and laser-focused stickiness was the order of the day.
Exec Briefing: Spicers Europe looking for vendor support
6 February 2012Executive Briefing Item
Unipapel CEO Millan Alvarez-Miranda tells OPI about his plans for Spicers Europe.
Exec Briefing: Suppliers seeing red
3 February 2012Executive Briefing Item
Has Spicers missed an opportunity to forge closer vendor relations in the UK?
Exec Briefing: Helix announcement imminent
26 January 2012Executive Briefing Item
The Managing Director of manufacturer Helix has told OPI that a decision on the future of the company is expected shortly.
Exec Briefing: Lyreco in South America
20 January 2012Executive Briefing Item
OPI speaks to Inforshop and Marken, the new strategic partners of Lyreco in South America.
Exec Briefing: Charlie Cleary, TriMega
10 January 2012Executive Briefing Item
Charlie Cleary, President of US dealer group TriMega, on the recent merger with INTEC and a lookback at 2011.
Exec Briefing: One to one with Alan Ball
22 December 2011Executive Briefing Item
Spicers UK and Ireland Managing Director Alan Ball on life after DS Smith.
Exec Briefing: Dealer services group targeting 20 hubs
15 December 2011Executive Briefing Item
New dealer services company nectere says it is looking to establish 20 delivery hubs across the UK by the end of 2015.
Exec Briefing: Basci looking at strategic roles
5 December 2011Executive Briefing Item
Peter Basci has told OPI that he still hopes to play a part in the future of the European office products industry.
Exec Briefing: Italian resellers target private label
29 November 2011Executive Briefing Item
Pricing and volume pressures accelerate own brand strategies.
Exec Briefing: ACCO's merger surge
18 November 2011Executive Briefing Item
ACCO's share price surges on MWV merger news... what next for Esselte?
Exec Briefing: Staples to make more cuts in Europe
16 November 2011Executive Briefing Item
More headcount reductions in European retail was one of the key takeaways from the Staples third quarter conference call on Tuesday.
Exec Briefing: Eyes on Staples UK retail results
11 November 2011Executive Briefing Item
Recent announcements by Best Buy and Comet have put the UK retail sector in the spotlight.
Exec Briefing: Tech troubles hit Max retail
28 October 2011Executive Briefing Item
Issues with its new technology assortment contributed to OfficeMax’s same-store sales in the US falling almost 6% in Q3.
Exec Briefing: Breakroom boost for United
27 October 2011Executive Briefing Item
Continued double-digit growth in the janitorial/breakroom category was a highlight of United Stationers’ third quarter results.
Exec Briefing: Austrian’s International challenge
26 October 2011Executive Briefing Item
Depot CEO to take a close look at International division as results disappoint.
Exec Briefing: Balabanov relishing BPGI challenge
12 October 2011Executive Briefing Item
The Chairman of BPGI’s new Russian member says he is looking forward to the challenge of being part of the international consortium.
Exec Briefing: The ‘holey’ Trinity?
28 September 2011Executive Briefing Item
OPI understands that a new route to market for office supplies vendors in the UK is about to be launched.
Exec Briefing: Lane defends Whitman appointment
23 September 2011Executive Briefing Item
HP's Chairman Ray Lane has defended the decision to appoint former eBay CEO Meg Whitman as the company’s new CEO.
Exec Briefing: Kiwi market on the up
16 September 2011Executive Briefing Item
As the Rugby World Cup takes place in New Zealand, the country’s number one office supplies retailer continues to progress.
Exec Briefing: Consolidation will happen, says Sargent
9 September 2011Executive Briefing Item
Staples CEO Ron Sargent says he believes that there will be some form of consolidation in the US office superstore sector over the next five years.
Exec Briefing: Creating a buzz
2 September 2011Executive Briefing Item
US manufacturer rep group John Motley Associates is enjoying success with a new blogging and social media concept.
Exec Briefing: HP drops Print Station
31 August 2011Executive Briefing Item
Focus on higher margin business leads to Print Station termination.
Exec Briefing: Solid Staples on the up (again)
19 August 2011Executive Briefing Item
A closer look at Staples' second quarter results announced this week.
Exec briefing: Poised for growth
11 August 2011Executive Briefing Item
As German dealer group Büroring completes its restructuring process, MD Ingo Dewitz gives an update on its new, proactive approach
Exec Briefing: Saligram searching for margin
3 August 2011Executive Briefing Item
Report on OfficeMax's Q2 conference call as CEO Ravi Saligram says he is "laser focused" on margin improvements.
Exec Briefing: Spicers UK fights back
1 August 2011Executive Briefing Item
In a trade press briefing, Spicers unveiled a number of new initiatives
Exec Briefing: Spicers springs into action
21 July 2011Executive Briefing Item
Spicers UK & Ireland is pushing ahead with a new last-mile delivery concept aimed at giving dealers a greater share of the contract stationery market.
Exec Briefing: Depot France adopts multi-channel focus
21 July 2011Executive Briefing Item
OPI took the opportunity this week to meet Michel Milcent, Regional VP Office Depot Southern Europe, at the company’s distribution centre at St Martin de Crau in the south of France. The St Martin facility will be celebrating its 10th annive...
Exec Briefing: Spicers sale update
7 July 2011Executive Briefing Item
Yesterday’s news that the sale of Spicers has been agreed ends several months of speculation surrounding the future of the European wholesaler.
Exec Briefing: Sticking together
1 July 2011Executive Briefing Item
Sweden’s leading dealer group RKV has recently announced its membership of the Nordic Office Alliance (NOA).
Exec Briefing: United developing furniture offering
24 June 2011Executive Briefing Item
This week’s announcement that United Stationers has teamed up with US furniture vendor Bush to offer a new turnkey programme for resellers is one of a number of recent initiatives by the wholesaler in the category.
Exec Briefing: Officeworks looking good
9 June 2011Executive Briefing Item
Unlike most other big box office supplies retailers, Australia’s Officeworks has been doing rather well lately, improving both the top line and profitability.
Exec Briefing: Taking the MPS leap
3 June 2011Executive Briefing Item
Two leading UK dealers have made announcements about their Managed Print Services (MPS) offerings over the last few days.
EB: Corwell makes international move
27 May 2011Executive Briefing Item
Corwell Managing Director Laszlo Feller has revealed to OPI that the Hungarian wholesaler is about to enter several new markets. Speaking to OPI at this week’s Corwell Expo in Budapest, Feher said that a new Export Manager is due to start work...
Staples: Who’s crying now?
20 May 2011Executive Briefing Item
With Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ still ringing in the ears of the independent dealers who attended this week’s United Stationers’ 2011 Vision conference in Orlando, it’s perhaps another of the group’s hit...
More about o2o/Advantia agreement
12 May 2011Executive Briefing Item
OPI spoke to Simon Moate and Bob Geens as well as Robert Baldrey, CEO of VOW’s parent company Vasanta, to find out more about today’s announcement. The agreement between o2o and Advantia certainly marks an interesting moment in the go-to...
EB: Red Cheetah’s intriguing move
6 May 2011Executive Briefing Item
Why is the software company upping sourcing and merchandising capabilities? Earlier this week, US-based e-commerce provider Red Cheetah announced the acquisition of consultancy firm Blue Planet, headed by former Corporate Express VP of Merchandising...
Exec Briefing: Mundt upbeat after Premier award
15 April 2011Executive Briefing Item
Bud Mundt, Executive Director of independent dealer network AOPD, is understandably in an upbeat mood following his organisation's recent successes in the national accounts arena.
EB: Depot restatement sparks lawsuit
7 April 2011Executive Briefing Item
Could further legal action act as a barrier to the sell-off of Depot? Office Depot restated its 2010 earnings yesterday and immediately found itself on the wrong end of a shareholder lawsuit. In Depot's amended 10-K filing to the Securities & Ex...
EB: o2o's successful remodel
29 March 2011Executive Briefing Item
The share price of business services provider office2office (o2o) has rallied in the last few days despite a sharp fall in its pre-tax profits. o2o's share price is up around 10% since it released its preliminary full-year results last Thursday, alt...
Exec Brieifing: UK dealers react to ACCO programme
24 March 2011Executive Briefing Item
There has been a mixed reaction to ACCO's decision to make more use of the wholesale channel and reduce its direct business with independent dealers. One of the key takeaways from ACCO's quarterly conference call in February was the announcement o...
EB: Depot plays MPS card
21 March 2011Executive Briefing Item
More on Office Depot's move into the European MPS market with Xerox. Much has been made of the potential of the managed print services (MPS) space for office suppliers and you can read the third in a series of articles on the subject in the April is...
Unipapel looking to spend Lyreco cash
11 March 2011Executive Briefing Item
Could the Spanish distributor make a surprise move for Spicers' European operations? Leading Spanish manufacturer, wholesaler and distributor Unipapel says it is looking to make acquisitions following the sale of the Ofiservice B2B business to Lyrec...
EB: Captaining Nemo
2 March 2011Executive Briefing Item
Nemo CEO Derek Bamford tells opi.net what the addition of several new group members has meant for the UK dealer group. For the last year or so UK dealer group Nemo has been implementing a strategy of adding like-minded, but complementary, group memb...
Spotlight on new Depot investigation
24 February 2011Executive Briefing Item
News that Office Depot is the subject of a new Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation in the US is making the headlines in the national press. In Depot's regulatory annual 10K filing with the SEC on Tuesday, the company revealed: "During the firs...
EB: 'Max mauled by Wall Street
18 February 2011Executive Briefing Item
OfficeMax's share price has fallen by around 14% since the release of its quarterly and full year results on Wednesday. While the company's bottom line showed a marked improvement over Q4 and the full year 2009 - adjusted net profit in 2010 was up b...
EB: Depot's Dixons deal
7 February 2011Executive Briefing Item
Office Depot's John O'Keeffe reveals more about the recent store-in-store agreement with leading European consumer electronics group Dixons. opi.net spoke earlier today to John O'Keeffe, Office Depot's Commercial Director UK and Ireland, about Frida...
EB: Depot/'Max wedding bells...?
28 January 2011Executive Briefing Item
The oft-talked about merger between Office Depot and OfficeMax has been in the news again this week, after the South Florida Business Journal speculated that Depot could be hearing "wedding bells". OPI covered this issue in depth in the May 2010 is...
Events
North American Office Products Awards 2012 (NAOPA)
12 July 2012 - 12 July 2012 Washington, DC
The third annual awards programme for North American manufacturers to encourage innovation and give recognition to vendors that are working to deliver real value for the dealer community.
Paperworld 2013
26 January 2013 - 29 January 2013 Messe Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
