Handel’s purchase of Severn Print, Jaffre, which trades as Interprint, and Goldcrest Labels has taken the group to £33m turnover with around 220 employees.
The deal, inked in October, saw Handel – headed up by directors Simon Smogur, Samuel Purchase, and Ben Forsey – take on 80 employees.
Interprint and Goldcrest Labels have added a new diversity to the group’s output, with specialities in wide-format housebuilding signage and adhesive labels respectively.
ESP had been investing in wide-format already – with three Canon Colorados now purchased from supplier CMYUK, the most recent in May 2023 – but the Interprint purchase represents a significant step forward for the group’s capabilities.
The acquisition of Severn Print has roughly doubled Handel’s digital business, joining the rapidly-growing ESP Smile to form a bloc of around £15m for the group.
Handel had been in the market for an acquisition for around a year, Smogur told Printweek.
He said: “The market is consolidating at quite a rapid rate, and if you look at history, and what has happened in continental Europe, it needs to consolidate.
“If you looked at the average size of a printer 10 years ago, it would have been three or four million [pounds turnover], with a couple of big ones – if you took that average spread now, I would suspect it’s a lot higher.
“So with that process in mind, I’ve approached a lot of companies over the past year.”
Key among the acquisition’s criteria were diversity of markets, compatibility in machinery, and proximity.
Smogur explained: “Print companies are thin-line margin businesses, and they need to be controlled and managed extremely effectively if they’re to be successful.
“And in all honesty, that means I can’t be travelling four hours each way to do that.”
First approaching the Goldcrest Group in 2022, conversations then evolved towards an agreement in the summer of 2023.
The acquisition saw Handel take on under TUPE the firms’ digital business only – which represented around 80 of 90 staff employed – and sell Severn Print’s litho kit.
The next year will see Smogur and fellow directors of the group’s principal company, litho firm ESP Colour, working on aligning the firms’ output – especially the case for Severn and ESP Smile, the two digital businesses.
The company has taken on Severn’s Mark Allington – who himself bought Severn in 2020 – now promoted to CTO, and Dave Bullfield, formerly of Acorn Press, as commercial director to oversee the growing group.
“As you get bigger and more complicated [as a company], with more diversification, more technology, more people – you have to be prepared for that transition,” said Smogur.
“And part of that is having extremely efficient, highly skilled board members, all focused on the areas they’re good at.”
He added that while the industry was fond of making growth predictions, to truly pursue those aims, strong leadership was vital.
He said: “Everyone says they’re going to grow – but how are you actually going to do that?
“If you’re really going to pursue a strategy of growth, which I think is correct in this consolidating market, you're either going to grow and consolidate other printers by one means or another – or you're going to be consolidated.
“There's no other option, eventually. You have to have the right management team in place to achieve that.”
