Birmingham-based Bakergoodchild said the deal, which was completed last Thursday (5 November), will enable it to continue with its current profile of work while investing in more high-volume capabilities on its current site.
Bakergoodchild managing director Paul Brough told Printweek: “We’ve known Send DM for quite some time. They do similar things to ourselves, but they have a really great customer base and a highly skilled team of people.
“And it gets us a second site, which we’re interested in to support our customers from a business continuity and disaster recovery point of view.
“They do take on lower run work than we would do here, which is another benefit, and they’ve got a good pick and pack area, so there are certain advantages there.”
Send DM’s premises in Aldridge, Walsall will be retained, giving Bakergoodchild a second location within the West Midlands, and as yet there are no plans to rebrand the business.
“We’ll be building on the 20-year heritage of the company – they’re quite well recognised, particularly in the West Midlands,” said Brough.
All of Send DM’s staff have also been retained as part of the deal and while specifics on its headcount and turnover were not disclosed, Brough said the group now employs 70 people and he hoped the acquisition would boost turnover by “at least 10%”.
Send DM runs equipment from Konica Minolta and Neopost, though Brough said upcoming further investment at the main Bakergoodchild site may see a reshuffle of equipment across the group, with some of the kit at the main site being moved over to Send DM’s premises to bolster its disaster recovery capabilities.
“Our 2021 Growth Strategy will see us increase the capacity of this site, and Send too now, and widen the range of products and services we can offer,” said Brough.
“One of my interests with the Send acquisition is what wider services and solutions we can sell to their customer base.
“We’re starting to introduce some of these new solutions to this site now, for example hybrid mail, multichannel solutions, digital services and data-based intelligence, and reaping the benefits from our print management division as well.
“We can now take all of these areas to the Send customers. It’s also about installing more high-volume equipment into this site, as well as enhanced postal solutions.”
