The Manchester-headquartered group became Astra Group last summer after bringing ADXBA and Astra Signs under one brand following the merger of the two businesses last March.
The latest change has resulted in the centralisation of the company’s sales and marketing departments alongside certain backend operational functions.
Former sales director Paul Dyke has stepped into the newly created role of group sales director and will be responsible for the continued UK and international expansion of the business and leadership of its 10-strong sales team. He will report directly into Astra Group CEO Jim Kerr.
Supporting Dyke in driving sustained business growth is Joseph Derbyshire, who is promoted to head of business development. A long-serving member of the Astra team with over 10 years’ experience, Derbyshire will leverage his extensive knowledge of signage as well as the UK market to further develop the company’s relationships with new and existing clients.
Joining the sales division and bringing further extensive signage expertise to the business, particularly in the wayfinding space, is Jac Lloyd-Jones, who joins Astra Group from Widd Signs in the role of business development manager. Dyke and Lloyd-Jones had previously worked together at signage specialist IS Group.
The sales team will operate out of Astra Group’s Manchester headquarters, with input from regional hubs in London and Dublin.
Kerr said: “The new group structure follows an in-depth review of our management division, physical locations, continued integration of systems and more.
“It completes what I like to refer to as the collaboration phase of the business, further to our uniting the digital solutions and traditional signage arms of the business under the one group identity last year.
“We’ve ambitious plans and I’m pleased to say we’re already making great steps towards realising them and have had several wins within our historic client base as well as having several new brands join us on our journey.”
Dyke added: “The level of combined digital and traditional signage expertise we are proud to offer clients, along with our unrivalled technological capability and national and international reach, positions Astra Group at the forefront of the market.
“I’m looking forward to working with Joe, Jac and the wider team to further leverage our market-leading, fully fledged end-to-end offer here in the UK and overseas.”
Astra Group has six specialist divisions – Astra Digital, Astra Signs, Astra Graphics, Astra Service, Astra Safety, and ADXBA – serving clients including BT, Manchester Airport Group, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Bowmer & Kirkland, NHS, Gino D’Acampo Hotels & Leisure, Manchester City Football Club, Samsung, Gatwick Airport, Skechers, Global, JCDecaux, EasyJet, Alight Media, Arnold Clark, and Unilever.
The group runs a fleet of print and finishing machinery from Inktec, HP, and Kongsberg.
