Cimpress' National Pen Co. Cites Growth, While Vistaprint Downsizes

National Pen Co., headquartered in San Diego, Calif., announced that it plans to create more than 250 jobs at its facility in Dundalk, Ireland, over the next five years as part of an expansion plan.

This comes after National Pen Co. was acquired by Venlo, Netherlands-based Cimpress last year.

“A year ago in December 2016, National Pen joined the Cimpress family, which extends our opportunities for further investment,” Peter Kelly, CEO of National Pen Co., told the Dundalk Democrat. “It continues to be an exciting time for all involved.”

Conversely, another company that Cimpress acquired, Vistaprint, announced in November that it plans to make “headcount reductions” during the end of 2017.

According to Office Products International, Cimpress CEO Robert Keane said that the job cuts would reduce the company’s operating costs, and “streamline operations and more closely align functions to increase the speed of execution.”

While Cimpress can enjoy the expansion of its National Pen Co. brand, especially in Europe, Keane said indicated that Vistaprint’s expansion of new products and design services—like the brick and mortar storefronts opening in Canada—caused profits to take a hit.

“The executive team has told us that action is likely happen this quarter, but details are still being finalized, and those employees who will be departing have not yet been informed,” a Vistaprint spokesperson said last month. “Therefore, out of respect for our colleagues, we are not going to release specifics today about how many people are leaving, or what functions or offices they represent. More details will be provided with our [second quarter] results.”

So, while Cimpress’ acquisition of Vistaprint, and the company’s subsequent venture into face-to-face printing solution sales, could have started some in the promotional products industry, it’s interesting to see Cimpress tip the financial scales in favor of National Pen Co.

It could indicate that the company is looking to put more of a focus on hard goods related to the promotional products supplier-distributor model and a higher focus on hard goods over printed products.