wfn.org | PPC Presents Strong Financial Report

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

June 15, 1997 
 
 
GA97002            PUBLISHING CORPORATION PRESENTS 
                  STRONG FINANCIAL REPORT TO COUNCIL 
 
SYRACUSE--The Presbyterian Publishing Corporation (PPC) presented a strong 
financial report here June 12 during the General Assembly Council (GAC) 
meeting. 
    Price H. Gwynn, III, PPC board chair of Charlotte, N.C., said the 
corporation is "healthy" and markedly different from the summer of 1994 
which he described as PPC's "darkest hour." 
    "We were close to collapse," Gwynn recalled. "Bankruptcy was a real 
possibility. We had $2.3 million in long-term debt, $500,000 borrowed on a 
seasonal term loan that had to be repaid by December 31 of that year. And 
our only source of revenue, sales, were substantially below forecast and 
projection. Expenses were out of control. We were 60 days behind in paying 
our own suppliers and they were beginning to make ugly noises." 
    Additionally, Gwynn said, employee morale ranged from grim to hopeless. 
He said he told the PPC board members at that time that in his professional 
opinion, PPC had a 50/50 chance of survival. 
    However, as of June 1997, Gwynn said the $2.3 million loan has been 
retired and the $500,000 term loan has been paid off.  Gwynn said sales are 
"satisfactory, expenses are predictable and under control, all accounts are 
current and vendors are once again seeking PPC's business." 
    "We have $3.8 million in the bank," Gwynn said. "And employee morale is 
good provided you are a survivor. Of the 175 employees we inherited, 26 are 
still there out of a total workforce today of 58." 
    Gwynn credited Davis Perkins, PPC president and publisher, for the 
corporation's rapid turnaround. 
    Based in Louisville,  PPC publishes books -- under the Westminster/John 
Knox Press and Geneva Imprints -- and other theological, educational and 
worship resources for Presbyterians, as well as non-Presbyterian Christian 
education curriculum as an alternative to denomination-specific curricula 
published by the church. 
 
Julian Shipp 

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