David C Cook plans to exit the distribution portion of its Kingsway business unit in the United Kingdom this summer. Kingsway Music operations, known as Integrity Music, will continue, as will the company’s Canadian distribution operations.

“This announcement follows much consideration of what is right for our entire organization,” said Cris Doornbos, CEO of David C Cook. “Despite our best efforts and the hard work of our team, which has built an efficient distribution operation in the U.K., it hasn’t become the sustainable business we need it to be for long-term viability and financial health. As a nonprofit ministry, a financial surplus is necessary to support our efforts around the world. While we now have an efficient operation, it is no longer profitable, and this impedes our ability to honor our mission.”

David C Cook is currently in discussion with other U.K.-based distributors. It is also working with its supplier partners and retail customers on the planned changes, with the goal of creating as little interruption and inconvenience as possible for them, while strengthening the marketplace for Christian resources.

“The migration from Gutenberg to Google has created significant challenges for Christian products distributors and all need more volume to remain fiscally fit,” said Doornbos. “Our hope is this move will serve to strengthen the rest of the market by transferring our current business to other distributors.”

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