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Nottingham Trade Finishers (NTF) managing director Richard Anstock is a happy man. Despite the general woes the industry has been facing over the past few years, his four-year-old company is bringing in plenty of work and the decision to become his own boss looks to have been a good one.

But things haven’t always been easy: prior to setting up NTF, Anstock was joint managing director at Gemini Print Finishers, a company he joined when Nottingham Print Finishers and Gemini Print Finishing were merged. He had been with Nottingham Print Finishers since 1989 when he was taken on as an estimator.

In 2006, he had planned to buy out the family that owned Gemini, as the main shareholder was looking to move into retirement. However, a figure could not be agreed upon and eventually the company was placed into liquidation, leaving Anstock and the rest of the employees out of work.

Anstock says: "I think he saw it as the last chance to get a good price, but the figures didn’t add up. I basically decided over the weekend to set up by myself. At the time it was dramatic, I had a frantic week immediately after they closed the company, but in hindsight it was probably the best thing that could have happened."

Nottingham Trade Finishers was launched by Anstock, alongside his wife Emma Anstock and current production manager Ian Holt, who has worked with Anstock since 1989, in August 2006, less than two months after Gemini closed its doors, taking on 12 members of staff at the same time.

Luckily, Anstock already had finance in place for the Gemini purchase. He says: "We pushed it. On 11 August we were told the finance had gone through and we had our first machine, the next day the first of 27 articulated lorries came in."

Baptism of fire
Obviously starting out in such a hurried fashion did not lend itself to a calm perusal of the industry’s machinery. However, Anstock made the most of the situation and, when an opportunity arose, he jumped on it, something that he still believes in today.

"We were able to pick up some machines from the administrator," he says. "But a short while later another local finisher went into administration and we added a stitching line. In 2008 we took an old machine from Butler & Tanner when that closed. We went on a shopping spree, bought machines from all over the place. There are some bargains out there if you know where to look.

One organisation that Anstock owes a lot to is the BPIF. When the company started out none of the management team had any knowledge of the workings of HR, so contracts were a minefield, while there was little grasp of health and safety regulations. Emma Anstock has taken on the HR role and, with the help of the BPIF, all staff are fully contracted, while the site is awash with first-aiders and fire wardens.

Nowadays, the company has found itself, along with most trade finishers, marginalised because printers have brought so many of their specialisms in-house. One-off, unusual and overspill jobs are NTF’s bread and butter and Anstock, like any other finisher or printer will tell you that customers are only driven by one thing.

"Price. There is so much overcapacity," he says. "Finishers are driven to desperation. There’s always someone that will do something for a price, whether it’s sustainable or not. But you can’t go around selling £10 notes for £5. Sometimes you look at the price a printer wants you to take and you think ‘it will be cheaper for me not to do the job and just write you a cheque, because if I take it on it’s going to end up costing me’."

Because of the battles of being a trade finisher, Anstock has no intention to become "the UK’s biggest" at what he does, and don’t be surprised if the company’s £850,000 turnover doesn’t increase in years to come.

He says: "When we set up, I wasn’t empire building. I don’t want to be the next Scorpio." Referring to a business that collapsed shortly after hitting a £6m turnover.

"It’s perceived as lacking ambition, but I would much prefer to have a stable business than an unmanageable monster."

So, as NTF approaches its fifth anniversary, it seems very little has changed since it started out. Anstock will regularly be found on internet auction websites looking for his next bargain piece of kit, he is still kept incredibly busy trying to maintain the business and a lot of the company’s staff are still around as well. But as long as the business continues to thrive, Anstock won’t want things any other way.

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NTF FACT FILE
Based Nottingham
Founded 2006
Managing director Richard Anstock
Staff 18
Turnover £850,000
Equipment Schneider 115 guillotine, three MBO folders, Hunkeler mailing line, Muller Martini Prima five-station stitcher, Muller Martini Prima four station stitcher, Accufast KT tabber