<PAGE>
Exhibit 99.1
CONTACT:
INVESTOR RELATIONS: 978-251-6136
James F. Conway III, Chairman, President and
Chief Executive Officer or
Robert P. Story, Jr.
Senior Vice President and
Chief Financial Officer
MEDIA RELATIONS: 617-244-9682
Mary T. Conway
Conway Communications
COURIER CORPORATION TO ACQUIRE DOVER PUBLICATIONS
FOR $39 MILLION
EXECUTING AN END-TO-END STRATEGY AIMED AT SPECIALIZED NICHE MARKETS
NORTH CHELMSFORD, MA -- AUGUST 15, 2000 -- Courier Corporation (Nasdaq:CRRC),
the nation's fifth largest book manufacturer, today announced it has signed a
definitive agreement to acquire Dover Publications, Inc., a renowned, privately
held New York publisher of special-interest books. Under the terms of the
agreement, Courier will purchase 100 percent of Dover Publications' stock for
$39 million in cash.
Founded in 1941, Dover is one of the nation's most successful, consistently
profitable niche publishers, with calendar year 1999 revenues of approximately
$32 million. Dover has more than 7,000 in-print titles in over 30 specialty
categories ranging from military history to paper dolls, and from musical scores
to typographic fonts and CD-ROMs. Dover sells its products through a diverse
range of wholesalers and distributors around the world and all major American
bookstore chains, independent booksellers, children's stores, craft stores, and
gift shops in museums, historic sites and elsewhere. It also sells direct to
consumers through proprietary catalogs.
"Dover has a title list that is without parallel in its size and variety, a
highly diversified, loyal network of retailers and a 50-year history of
marketing directly to consumers, with direct customers now numbering more than
500,000 individuals," said James F. Conway III, chairman, president and chief
executive officer of Courier. "These assets, along with its unique process of
identifying pockets of demand and an exceptional track record of bringing more
than 400 new specialized publications to market each year, make Dover an
extremely valuable company with important synergies for Courier."
According to Conway, the acquisition furthers Courier's long-term growth
objectives. "Over the past decade, we have augmented our core book manufacturing
business in ways designed to streamline and enhance the process of getting books
from authors to readers. We have done this by building or acquiring competencies
in short-run manufacturing, fulfillment, digital media, e-commerce, direct
marketing and custom publishing. The combination of Dover's publishing, sales
and distribution skills with Courier's book manufacturing, digital content
conversion, and e-commerce skills will produce a powerful end-to-end solution
for Dover, and Courier will capture revenue and profits from every step of the
process," Conway said.
<PAGE>
"Dover will be deploying this strategy in a market where growth is being driven
by the Internet," he added. "In the past decade, the number of books in print
has doubled to 1.8 million titles, and specialty publishing is one of the major
drivers. Much of this growth is fueled by Web retailers that enable readers to
search easily for their favorite subjects among millions of titles. Moreover,
electronic direct marketing is an efficient way to acquire new customers by
offering products that address their specific interests. Building on these
trends, we intend to use our expertise in e-commerce, direct marketing and
short-run manufacturing to achieve double digit sales growth at Dover."
Conway said Courier expects the acquisition to have minimal impact on earnings
through fiscal 2001, and to be accretive to earnings thereafter. He also
emphasized that Dover's highly specialized properties do not compete with those
of Courier's major publishing customers.
Following completion of the acquisition, Dover, which has approximately 170
employees, will operate as an autonomous subsidiary. Dover's current senior
executive team will continue to manage the business. Dover's President, Blanche
Cirker, will provide continuing assistance during a transition period. Mrs.
Cirker co-founded the company with her late husband, Hayward Cirker, who was
widely recognized as an innovator and influential figure in the publishing
industry.
"Innovation has been the hallmark of Dover Publications," Mrs. Cirker said.
"Hayward and I built a thriving business by doing what made sense to us, even
when that meant going against convention. We were among the first to recognize
the market potential for high-quality paperbacks and for direct marketing of
books. For nearly five decades we have had an excellent relationship with
Courier, which manufactures the majority of our books. Courier understands what
makes us successful and is the right company to continue our tradition of
innovation and to help Dover grow in new directions."
Courier expects to complete the acquisition, which is subject to customary
governmental approvals, by September 30, 2000. The transaction, which will be
accounted for as a purchase for accounting purposes, will be financed through an
existing $60 million bank credit line. A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc. acted as
financial adviser to Courier in the transaction.
ABOUT COURIER CORPORATION
Courier Corporation, with headquarters in North Chelmsford, MA, is focused on
streamlining and enhancing the process by which printed books and digital
content reach end-user markets. The company has three lines of business:
full-service book manufacturing, customized education and specialized
publishing. For more information, visit www.courier.com.
ABOUT DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Dover Publications, Inc., of Mineola, NY, is a leading publisher of books for
niche markets. Major lists include fine and commercial art, children's activity
books, crafts, musical scores, mathematics, physics and other areas of science,
puzzles, games, social science, stationery items, and classics of literature for
both juvenile and adult markets, including the Dover Thrift editions.
<PAGE>
FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION:
This news release includes forward-looking statements. Statements that describe
future expectations, plans or strategies are considered "forward-looking
statements" as that term is defined under the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995 and releases issued by the Securities and Exchange
Commission. The words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate"
and other expressions which are predictions of or indicate future events and
trends and which do not relate to historical matters identify forward-looking
statements. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which could
cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated.
Factors that could affect actual results include, among others, changes in
customers' demand for the Company's products, changes in raw material costs and
availability, seasonal changes in customer orders, pricing actions by
competitors, changes in copyright laws, consolidation among customers and
competitors, success in the integration of acquired businesses, changes in
technology, Year 2000 issues, and general changes in economic conditions.
Although the Company believes that the assumptions underlying the
forward-looking statements are reasonable, any of the assumptions could be
inaccurate, and therefore, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking
statements will prove to be accurate. The forward-looking statements included
herein are made as of the date hereof, and the Company undertakes no obligation
to update publicly such statements to reflect subsequent events or
circumstances.
