The deal for the order and customer books of the B2 printer was secured last Friday (16 March), following the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as administrator of the £2.75m-turnover firm three days earlier.
After the withdrawal of a bidder, who was looking to buy Romsey as a going concern, PwC made the firm’s 37 staff redundant. Its demise was blamed on the loss of two key clients.
MPI managing director Mike Dolan said this highlighted the plight of many sub-£5m operations, where “the loss of one important customer… is [often] the difference between administration and survival”.
MPI hopes to roll “most” of the printing group’s sales into its Romsey-based Borcombe SP operation, itself bought by the acquisitive firm a year ago.
The firm has already secured the services of Romsey’s head of internal sales Lloyd Henderson, son of the firm’s founder, and all seven sales and customer service staff. It is also currently interviewing factory workers for a further seven potential roles.
This is the second such deal for £25m-turnover MPI this year, after it consolidated the order and customer book of Garden House Press (West) into Friary Press last month.
The Romsey buy follows Borcombe winning the £1.5m a year deal from Deloitte largely on the back of a clutch of green accreditations the site had secured in the past few weeks (see below). The deal encompasses the business cards, stationery and ‘colour work’ for the accountancy giant’s 18,000-staff UK arm.
Borcombe sales director Ed Belbin (pictured right) said: “The accreditations and the pending installation of our automated online ordering and call-off systems were key factors.”
To reflect its environmental stance, the firm has changed its livery from red to green.
Director of administration Martin Daniel (left) said: “[But] it’s not just the colour of our logo that’s changing, this is a root and branch change of philosophy that will guide strategy.”
Borcombe eco-credentials
• FSC accreditation
• PEFC accreditation for chain of custody compliance in sustainable forest management
• ISO 9001 for quality control & management
• ISO 14001 environmental management (scheduled to be awarded imminently)
Source: Borcombe SP
