Tom MacLennan and Iain Fraser, partners at FRP, were appointed by Allander Print's directors as joint administrators of the company last Monday (14 December). Trading was ceased immediately though the directors had attempted to complete as much work in progress as possible ahead of closing.
The Edinburgh-based business, which was founded in 1995, served a broad range of public and private sector clients across the UK but ran into “unsustainable cash flow problems stemming from the current Covid-19 restrictions”.
For the year to April 2020 the company had recorded sales of £3.2m but its turnover for the six-month period from May to October 2020 was £789,000.
Two staff were retained in the short-term to assist with administration and site clearance but they have now also been made redundant.
MacLennan said: “We are delighted to have sold the assets of Allander Print to Tempus IME and wish the new owners every success with their plans.
“We will now focus on liaising with all relevant agencies, including PACE, to ensure every possible assistance is provided to the staff during this difficult time.”
Tempus IME provides digital design, print, marketing and communications services to a wide range of blue-chip businesses. One of its products is Tempus Cloud, a service that enables users to store all of their digital assets.
The business, which prior to the acquisition had 15 staff and a turnover of around £1.3m, purchased Allander Print's intellectual property, customer list, certain IT equipment and the company name, which will be retained. All other assets will be sold by the administrators’ agents by tender or auction.
Managing director Bob Dryburgh said: “Allander Print is a highly prestigious brand with a long history of quality and customer service. The company has been adversely affected by Covid-19 like numerous companies all over the UK.
“Tempus with its unique business model will be able to support the existing Allander customers and will be introducing new innovations built around excellent customer support.”
Dryburgh told Printweek the purchase was part of “a wider strategic move within the print industry” for Tempus and that additional information, including details of further new acquisitions, will be revealed in early January.
He said the company is also on the lookout both for more acquisitions and to expand its supplier roster.
“We want to invite other print companies if they want to join us on this journey. It’s been a difficult time with the Covid effects on the print industry generally and the recent announcements have just exaggerated that. I think it’s natural that companies now join together.”
He added: “We do more than just print work. We bring a lot of software, technology and digital innovation to the package.
“We’re looking to build up a network of suppliers and partners within the print industry to work with across the whole of the UK.
“We’re going to introduce a software and technology capability and new cloud-based services to supplement that whole process.”
