Wright's Printers backed by creditors

Wright's Printers is being supported by many of the trade creditors of predecessor Wright's (Sandbach), despite both sharing a director in Andrew Sehne.

Wright's (Sandbach) was placed in administration with Duff & Phelps on 20 June as a result of a winding-up petition from its paper supplier Howard Smith Group.

Sehne bought the business back as a going concern on 3 July for £25,000 at which time he told PrintWeek that he did not expect much support from trade creditors.

However, three weeks after Wright’s Printers began trading, Sehne has found that the majority of suppliers have been happy to discuss moving forward with the new company.

Previously, Sehne said that finance packages for equipment at the plant had been restructured and said that he had gained planning permission to convert one of Wright's Printers' buildings to apartments, which he could then sell off to regain the money to pay back creditors.

But he believes that the company's strong reputation was the catalyst to move forward with suppliers and clients, rather than the intention to compensate losses.

He said: "So far we are quite busy and we have had no feedback from suppliers regarding our brief period in administration.

"I have been open and honest and explained the situation. Most people know the company as a long-standing printer with a good reputation and 40 years’ experience in the industry. They realise that our misfortune is just a sign of the times."

Only paper and other large consumables suppliers have refused to carry on working with the company, including Howard Smith Group and its parent company Paperlinx, according to Sehne.

He said: "Our suppliers had to make an honest decision once they had established the situation with our company.

"A lot of paper companies have policies of not dealing with companies that have gone through a pre-pack. I understand their position entirely – a lot have been badly stung in circumstances such as these and they have to take a stand against it."

However, he stressed that Wright's was not a pre-pack "in the traditional sense" because administration had been enforced rather than chosen and the company had been "put out to market".

Sehhne added that he sympathised with the paper and consumables companies’ stance against businesses that have been bought back from administration, adding: "Before this all happened, I was always on their side. I never envisaged this happening to Wright’s – it has been devastating.

"We are continuing to see our suppliers and hope that we can move forward on a positive basis from the tremendous shock of going into administration.

"But now I have to be realistic, it must be difficult for companies who have had trouble with ‘pre-packs’."