Events in Liverpool over the past couple of weeks really have been most frown-making.

First we were informed by Transactis that RR Donnelley was acquiring the business (excluding the data bit). This immediately seemed a bit odd, not least because there was no mention of any acquisition from RRD itself, and it being a public company and all such matters generally require some sort of announcement. Transactis is one of the 50 biggest printing businesses in the country (the last accounts I have for it in its CDMS incarnation show sales of £73.4m), so this isn't small beer.

The other odd thing was that RRD UK doesn't look like a company that needs to expand its manufacturing footprint in this particular space. Sources in the trade were mystified, too, because the word on the streets was that RRD had won a contract, rather than acquired an additional business.

And lo, on 25 January RRD announced that it had indeed won a multi-year, multimillion dollar contract with... Shop Direct Group. You will not find the word Transactis anywhere in RRD's statement. Neither is there any mention of transfer of staff from the incumbent supplier, which as it happens is a sister business to Shop Direct.

Meanwhile, more than 250 people don't know if they'll have a job to go to in a few weeks, or not. And Transactis seems to be carrying out a masterclass in how not to handle a radical change in its business that will be so impactful to so many.