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Coloredge

ABA11 Winner / How to Enter

Company: Merisel, New York, NY
Company Division/Group: Coloredge, New York * Los Angeles
Company Description: Coloredge New York • Los Angeles is a leading visual communications services company trusted by many of the world’s most brand-conscious, consumer-oriented companies to provide media that maintains and enhances their brand image and supports key marketing objectives.
Nomination Category: Company / Organization Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Business Turnaround of the Year - Up to 2,500 Employees

Nomination Title: Coloredge New York • Los Angeles

    Tell the story about what this nominated company achieved since January 1 2010 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

        Merisel, Inc. (dba Coloredge) is a supplier of visual communication solutions
primarily providing customized graphic solutions, electronic studio production
services and large format digital visuals and graphics. 

        In 2009, Coloredge faced a bleak outlook in an industry plagued by mismanagement
and the economy in a recession that hit its target markets of retail and
advertising particularly hard.  Coloredge ended 2009 with an operating loss of
$11.2 million and a 26% decrease in net sales. It was becoming increasing clear
that with the recession still looming, the road to returning to profitability
would not be easy.

        As the 2010 financial plan was built, Coloredge’s management team targeted a
hopeful return to profitability in two years. As the year progressed, it became
clear that the goal of profitability would come sooner. Coloredge finished 2010
strong with operating income of $1.6M resulting in $12.8M operating results
turnaround. Our turnaround was achieved by constantly adhering to three tenets:
a sales team constantly striving to drive sales, a production facility focused
on efficiency, and a companywide focus on high performance excellence. 

        Coloredge’s sales team’s tireless effort to drive sales resulted in a $9.9M or
16% increase in revenues to $71.2M in annual revenues for 2010. The increase
from $62.1M in 2009 was due primarily to their focus on cross selling the entire
line of services to our existing customer base specifically in the retail
market, as well as seeking out new client business in all industries.

        Coloredge’s production team focused on our core goal to “do it right the first
time.” The result was an increase in gross margin of $9.5M or 31% in 2010
compared to 2009. Gross profit percentage to 42.1% in 2010, from 33.6% in 2009. 
Our improvement in margins was due to production material and labor efficiency
gains from the $2.5M investment in new equipment and technology during 2009 and
2010. New technology was added to enhance existing service offerings and old
technology was upgraded to better manage incoming workflow.  These technological
advances combined with our core goal of eliminating inefficiencies and doing it
right the first time resulted in our total production costs remaining flat at
$41M annually while still being able to produce an additional $9.9M in revenues.

        While sales and margins grew by considerable percentages, total selling, general
and administrative expenses (excluding extraordinary items) decreased by $3.2M
or 10.6%. At the beginning of 2010, the CEO tasked each Coloredge employee with
cutting costs wherever they could- from the supply room to the production floor
to sales force travel.

        Coloredge’s priority is helping clients maximize their brand equity and this can
only be done with continued investments in technology and service offerings.
This unlikely turnaround makes us poised to further reinvest capital and
continue to grow.

    List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

http://www.myprintresource.com/article/10244898/top-shops-2011-the-x-factor
http://www.merisel.com/cgi-bin/htmlos.exe/009.1.421626636500026638
http://www.merisel.com/merisel_site/team.html
http://www.eworldwire.com/pressreleases/212090
http://www.merisel.com/cgi-bin/htmlos.exe/005.1.1078806726200007077

    Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader of this nominated company:

        Donald R. Uzzi is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Merisel Inc.
Mr. Uzzi joined Merisel in November 2004 as President and Chief Executive Officer,
and was elected Chairman in April 2005. He has been a Director of Merisel since
November 2004. Prior to joining Merisel, Mr. Uzzi was Senior Vice President of
Electronic Data Systems, the global technology services company.