The UAE part of the business, Call Print Express Ltd, was sold to Callprint’s then-managing director Steve Cheek three weeks before the group filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators. The wider group went into administration with Duff & Phelps on 31 August, with Hobs Repro stepping in to pick up most of Callprint’s UK business in a pre-pack sale for the firm's trade and assets.
Call Print Express was sold to an MBO team of regional sales director Richard Saunders and commercial director Daniel Rodgers at the end of September, with the filings reaching Companies House last week.
Saunders has a stake of between 50%-75%, while Rodgers has “more than 25% but not more than 50%”, according to the statements.
Call Print Express had sales of £880,599 in the year to 30 March 2017 and turned around the prior year’s £74,685 loss to break even, posting a pre-tax profit of £1,244.
However, the business had a net deficiency of £373,667 and was reliant on the support of the group. Call Print Express owed its parent group £552,090 at the reporting date. It had eight employees.
Saunders told PrintWeek that the Dubai business was “busy and doing okay”.
The business still trades using the Callprint name at the current time.
PrintWeek has been informed that a number of Callprint’s creditors have contacted Duff & Phelps expressing concern about events leading up to the Dubai sale, and the timing of it, as they believe the Dubai business should have formed part of the assets available to the group's creditors.
In a statement, joint administrator Phil Duffy said: “Duff & Phelps has a statutory duty to investigate the affairs of the company in the lead up to the administration and will be doing so in due course and filing a report to the Department for Business Innovation & Skills. This report is confidential.
“Our investigations are underway but have not yet been concluded – we have three months from the administration date to file our report. However, I can confirm we have been keeping a log of any creditor concerns including comments made regarding the sale of the Dubai business.”
Cheek declined to comment.
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