By Noelle McElhatton, Marketing Direct, 21 May 2009, 2:00pm

Communisis tells City of weak direct mail demand but is upbeat on statement marketing

LONDON - Communisis plc, the print and database group, has told the London Stock Exchange that demand for direct mail is poor.

In an interim statement to the London Stock Exchange released yesterday, Communisis said that demand for its technology and services products remained strong.

The company has upbeat predictions for revenue from transactional print, where statements carry personalized marketing messages.

However volume direct mail and promotional cheque were experiencing ‘softening' demand, particular since the FSA issued guidance on using promo cheques.

The statement came as it emerged that T-Mobile UK has given Communisis a five-year contract to provide print-sourcing and consulting services for its customer communications.

Communisis chief executive Steve Vaughan said that company's focus on technology and services was "the right thing in the long term". It acquired Ai Data Intelligence last last year. ?

Vaughan predicted that direct mail would recover from the recession but the trend towards more personalised, targeted campaigns was being accelerated by the financial downturn.?

"Direct mail won't come back to where it was a two years ago in terms of carpet bombing campaigns," he said. "We are taking out the capacity for high-volume, commodity work and repurposing the Leeds factory."