St Neots-based Label Connections, which trades as PCL, has 16 staff and a turnover of £2.5m. It designs, manufactures and sells a range of pre-die cut pressure-sensitive labels in sheet form for use in the commercial print sector.
Under the Avery UK umbrella the company will continue to trade as Label Connections, using the PCL brand, with immediate effect.
There have been no staffing changes and current directors Lesley and David Turner will stay on to run the acquired business. They will report to Avery Europe & Asia Pacific vice-president and managing director Mark Cooper.
Avery UK, formerly part of Avery Dennison, became part of CCL Industries last year. It specialises in manufacturing and supplying self-adhesive labels, specialty converted media and software for digital printing in businesses and homes alongside complementary office products.
Avery sees the acquisitions as commitment to the growth and expansion of the business. Cooper said: “We see this as a first step into adjacent markets for Avery. Our aim is to expand and get the business back growing and if acquisition can help us do that then it’s certainly one of the routes that we’ll continue to look at.
“We hope to be able to take some of Label Connections’ product lines and some of the substrates and technologies and be able to replicate them and take them into other markets. We see there being an opportunity to expand that beyond what that business is doing in the UK.
“We can also add some of our own technologies to some of those products too to provide a broader set of products to the UK market. We tend to focus on much longer runs and faster technology than Label Connections does so there might be some crossovers that we will be able to help one another out with.”
Lesley Turner added: “Together with Avery we are thrilled about the prospect of taking the PCL brand forward into Europe and other market areas.
“The demand for the PCL label ranges is increasing and coupled with the Avery expertise the opportunity for the continued growth and development of the brand is very exciting. We see this as an excellent move for the future.”
