Slide show of the two sites

Key dates

1922 : Célestin Basin acquires L’Avenir de l’Artois and its printing plant located in the centre of Béthune, then the capital of the coal mining industry and the seat of France’s largest administrative district (1 million inhabitants).
1951 : Léonce Deprez, Basin’s son-in-law, becomes the company’s managing director, succeeding his father-in-law.
1956 : The mining recession begins.
1960 : The mining basin begins to change. Industrial areas are created, including Ruitz, between Béthune and Bruay, the first interurban zone in France.
1957 : The magazine « Les Echos du Touquet » is launched.
1973 : A Goss Community rotary offset press is bought. Changeover from letterpress to photographic type.
1974 : The former privately-owned business becomes a publicly held company. Eliane Deprez-Basin heads up the board, and Léonce Deprez is appointed Managing Director.
1976 : A plant is established in the Annezin industrial zone (600 m²).
1978 : The magazine « Montreuil Hebdo » is launched.
1989 : Expansion to the Ruitz industrial area, construction of a 3,000 m2 building that houses the first rotary book press, a used Solna.
1992 : Installation of a new Komori rotary press.
1993 : Léonce and Eliane Deprez-Basin pass the torch to two of their children. Léonce-Michel becomes Chairman, and his sister Marguerite, Managing Director.
1994 : The Ruitz site is expanded to 6,000 m2.
1995 : A second 16-page rotary press arrives.
2001 : The second site expansion, to 10,000 m2. The facility has no more room to expand.
2003 : A third rotary press is installed. Finishing and mailing facilities are developed.
2005 : Construction begins on the Arras site, next to the A1 motorway. A 6,000 m2 building emerges.
2006 : Installation and May startup of a 2x16-page duplex rotary press.