Fresno-based Dumont Printing has acquired competitor Val Print. Both businesses have been operational for more than 70 years. Dumont Facebook photo

A pair of Fresno’s oldest printing businesses have become one with the acquisition of Val Print by Dumont Printing.

Val Print announced the deal, the terms of which were not disclosed, at the end of June. The acquisition of 72-year-old Val Print became effective July 1.

Val Print President Jack Emerian said discussions for this move took place over the last four months. It would have happened sooner, he said, but the pandemic delayed the sale.

His main priorities were to ensure that Val Print employees would have continued job opportunities and that Dumont shared the company’s values.

Dumont Printing was established in 1950. The company is consistently voted the Best Commercial Printing Company as part of The Business Journal’s annual Best of Central Valley Business Readers’ Choice Awards.

All of Val Print’s customer account files, records and accounts receivable are now property of Dumont Printing. A fulfillment facility and warehouse was also part of the sale.

Emerian said that the future of the print industry will be more digital, and there has been a lot of consolidation of printing companies.

“As we older owners are aging out, companies are acquiring the businesses that have a customer base,” Emerian said. “It’s hard to organically grow in the industry. The way to grow is through acquisition.”

Emerian doesn’t expect any new print businesses to start in the future.

If an owner doesn’t have family that wants to take on a printing business, they’ll have to look outward, he said.

Susan Moore, owner of Dumont Printing, purchased the company in 2014, starting as a sales associate there in 1991.

Emerian said she has done a remarkable job with Dumont Printing, and expects that quality of work to continue with the sale of Val Print.