Folio entered administration on 5 April, and was sold the same day to ATB - Folio Print & Packaging Solutions Ltd., a company previously used by Folio’s directors to hold the assets used by both Folio and Bristol Bespoke Boxes, their other company.
One of the largest specialist print finishers in the UK at 40 staff, Folio was hit by bad debts of nearly £100,000 in early 2024 after the collapse of two major customers.
This bad debt proved an insurmountable blow to the firm’s cashflow. Already in a time-to-pay arrangement with HMRC and the local rating authority, Folio applied to them for additional time, but was not granted it by the local rating authority, Bird told Printweek.
He said: “This started a chain of events culminating in placing the company into administration and buying it back in a pre-pack by ATB Folio.”
Given that ATB Folio already owned all the assets used by Folio and Bristol Bespoke Boxes, and had been trading alongside Folio since 2020, he added it was the “obvious natural fit”.
Paul Wood, joint administrator from Begbies Traynor in Bristol alongside Neil Vinnicombe, said: “With two major customers falling into insolvency, the company was put under significant financial pressure, and it was immediately evident that a pre-packaged sale was the most desirable outcome.
“This sale not only preserves the jobs of all 40 employees but should also enable a distribution to be made to some of the company’s creditors.”
Bird added that recent investments by ATB in new machinery from the firm’s now defunct competitor, UK Bookbinders, and the relocation of Bristol Bespoke Boxes to its own premises, would help secure ATB’s future success.
“The £500,000 investment in a Kolbus DA casemaker, Kolbus BF casing in-line, Aster Multiplex in-line gatherer and sewing line – the largest in the UK – and other ancillary items have all been installed alongside our existing services, securing a further eight jobs and retaining the invaluable skillsets from the [UK Bookbinders] Weston Super Mare operation, ensuring we can offer the best possible service with some of the best-skilled staff in the industry,” he said.
April 2024’s pre-pack sale was not the firm’s first: Folio Print Finishing itself bought out Folio (Bristol) in 2011.
At the time, Folio (Bristol) had just enjoyed a highly profitable year and strong growth – yet was forced to call in the administrators after its bank withdrew its invoice discounting facility as “a complete shock”, Bird said in a 2011 Printweek interview.
“The bank dropped a bomb in the centre of the business,” he said at the time, adding: “I thought I had ridden the storm. We were still servicing debt from previous years but the company was going well. I spent 21 years building a business and a reputation in an industry I am very passionate about and somebody in an ivory tower decided to kick the foundation away.
“When we went to them to take down February’s [2011] salary they said they were freezing the account, despite having close to £100,000 available. They said to produce over the weekend and we would see after that, we went back with another £20,000 in invoices but they still wouldn’t release the funds."
Then, as now, the pre-pack sale meant 40 jobs were secured.
