The group is beginning consultations with employees at Wyndeham Peterborough and Wyndeham Heron in East Anglia over redundancies at both plants.

PrintWeek understands that around a third of the jobs at Peterborough, which currently employs 180 staff, are under threat, along with 34 out of 240 positions at Heron.

Wyndeham chief executive Paul Utting said: "The market for web offset printing is continuing to decline, and further consolidation and restructuring of this type is inevitable as companies respond to the reduction in demand."

He said the rate of decline equated to between 15%-20% over a two-year period. "That’s about £50m of volume disappearing, which is the equivalent of a couple of factories.

"We are determined that all our businesses remain able to compete in this ever-changing market," he added.  

Utting declined to go into the specifics of the restructure ahead of the consultation process.
He acknowledged the pre-Christmas timing was unfortunate, but said it would at least allow people to plan accordingly. "People have a right to know these things are going to happen."

Unite national officer Steve Sibbald said: "Overcapacity has been the biggest problem for the industry and with Polestar’s acquisition of BGP and the inevitable changes that will result from that, plus the proposed changes at Wyndeham, it looks like that is now being dealt with – however severely – and personally I think that’s going to be good for the industry in the long term if not the short term."

Earlier this year staff at Peterborough were facing changes to their terms and conditions but rejected the proposals. Managing director Michael Tame subsequently left the business, with Steve Shaw seconded from Heron as acting managing director.