PrintingNews.com

The National Association of Quick Printers has just released the NAQP 2008-2009 Operating Ratio Study. Currently in its 25th year, the biennial study offers a definitive look at the health of the quick and small commercial printing industry.

This year’s Operating Ratio Study is the largest, most comprehensive financial document ever produced by NAQP. In addition to featuring a variety of profit and loss statements and balance sheet reports, the study provides tools that allow the reader to compare his or her firm against others within the industry, based on more than a dozen criteria.

“Part of NAQP’s mission is to share real-world industry data with our members so they can make informed business decisions about how to remain competitive and achieve greater profitability,” says NAQP president and CEO Steve Johnson. “This latest Operating Ratio Study is a valuable measurement tool for the industry for that very purpose.

“Overall, the 2008 – 2009 Operating Ratio Study underscores how much the printing industry has matured. While the industry has grown in terms of sales volume, payroll costs have risen as a percentage of sales and this has almost single-handedly cut into industry profitability,” Johnson points out. Specifically, while net owner’s compensation rose on average from $60,100 in 1983 to $148,440 in 2007, it is down significantly as a percentage of total revenues (17.9 percent to 12.6 percent over the period).

Among the study’s other key findings are:

Average net profit per employee in 2007 was $9,043. However, for those companies that comprise the top 25 percent of the industry in terms of profits, net profit per employee was $25,876.