The deal went through for an undisclosed sum in December and Aquatint then proceeded to move into Intype’s Wimbledon premises in Elm Grove on 3 January. Aquatint bought the goodwill and certain assets, and also took on the lease for Elm Grove, but the two brands are still operating under their original names for "customer-retention purposes".
The move signals a return to Wimbledon for Aquatint, after it relocated to Bermondsey to save on overheads and be closer to its customers in August 2014.
Aquatint joint managing director Roger Severn said Intype officially ceased trading on 30 November and it was over the following couple of weeks that Aquatint purchased the goodwill and “hand picked” a few assets, mainly finishing kit.
A resolution to wind up Intype voluntarily was passed at a creditors’ meeting at the offices of insolvency practitioner RSM Restructuring Advisory on 26 January 2017, and Alexander Kinninmonth and David Alexander of RSM were appointed joint liquidators on 1 February.
Intype had been in a five-year Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) since June 2013.
A statement from RSM said: “In the latter half of 2016 it became apparent that the company [Intype Libra] would struggle in meeting the monthly contributions required under the terms of its CVA. Intype Libra ceased trading on 30 November, following which the nominated liquidators assisted the directors in recovering monies for creditors prior to the convening of the creditors' meeting.
“The business and assets of the company have now been sold to Aquatint pre-appointment. The liquidators are now seeking to recover outstanding debts with a view to maximising recoveries for creditors.”
RSM confirmed that Intype was sold prior to its appointment.
Two Intype staff were made redundant and one of its directors, Tony Chapman, terminated his appointment on 30 November 2016. Another director David Greenwood has joined Aquatint as production director. Companies House still lists John Raw and Graham Sherren as Intype directors. 21 are now employed across both companies.
Aquatint joint managing director Rob Primarolo said: “Essentially, the figures on CVAs aren’t great, about 30% survive and 70% fail. Intype did quite well to survive three out of five years but they ran out of cash due to sales slightly declining.
“That’s why the Aquatint takeover was the perfect fit. Aquatint is cash rich, has essentially no debt and we have retained clients and goodwill and put in new up-to-date digital kit.
“We worked very closely with them, they worked closely with us, Aquatint was looking to relocate, so has relocated into the premises and the lease has been reassigned over so now we can offer better customer service.”
Aquatint has recently installed a second Ricoh Pro C9100 into the building, along with a new Canon Océ mono machine and a stitching and wire-binding line. It also runs wide-format kit.
Intype’s CVA was approved on 13 June 2013, after all creditors approved the agreement. Main creditors were Xerox Finance, which was owed £211,764, and Canon UK, which was owed £207,054. Total owed to creditors at the time was £507,083.
Intype’s liquidation follows a spate of London printers going bust, including fellow Wimbledon printer Purbrooks, Clicks Print last week, and Face Creative Services in late 2016, which was then acquired by Hobs Repro.
