On 4 August, the refurbishment process was completed that started in 2013. The declaration of the Court of Varese officially certified that the plan had been completely executed and that the agreement among creditors enabling the continuity of the business initiated by La Tipografica Varese (LTV), one of Europe’s most important book printers, had been successfully concluded. The procedure enabled the company to be protected against unwelcome events during the delicate refurbishment phases.
Gianandrea Redaelli, the fourth generation of the family in the company commented: “For the overhaul of La Tipografica Varese, we had to use our three traditional assets: cutting-edge technology, an expert workforce and leading customers. The effort we went to in concert with the workers, who, together with their representatives have been an integral and active part of the reorganization – and whom we thank for the support and commitment shown – enabled us to overcome the most difficult phase of the crisis. The overhaul would not have been possible without the confidence of suppliers and banks: they believed in our project and we are satisfied that we succeeded in it, especially considering that few companies manage to meet the terms and conditions of agreements with creditors. We are aware that we have to tackle this new phase by continuing to seek greater efficiencies with attention, prudence and perspicacity to avoid failures and continue to be a benchmark for the many Italian and international publishers who have put their trust in us for decades. We owe them and the 130 families that work with us: a very important social value for this territory in which we have been working for ninety years. We believe in a world with books and want to continue to be there in the future to print them.”.
The decision of La Tipografica Varese to continue in business, to rebuild and rebalance the company’s assets, income and finances, required a great effort at a very difficult moment and was made even more difficult not only by the global economic crisis but also by the dematerialization of some historical products, and also by the general fall in the spending power of families. Books are in fact one of the first “luxuries” to be cut out. The report “L’editoria, la filiera distributiva, la lettura in Lombardia (2007-2015)” (Publishing, the distribution chain and reading in Lombardy) by Aie, (the Studies Department of the Italian Association of Publishers) on data gathered by Istat (Italian National Statistics Office), certified a market contraction from 145 million books sold in 2007 to 79 million sold in 2014.
