Cornwallis appointed joint administrators Andrew Poxon and Julien Irving of Leonard Curtis on 6 October. The business and assets were acquired by Mark Peplinski Technical Services on the same day.
Leonard Curtis confirmed that Mark Peplinski Technical Services had purchased Cornwallis’ business and assets but declined to comment further.
Mark Peplinski Technical Services director Mark Peplinski confirmed to PrintWeek that the new business would trade as D&M Packaging, which was incorporated on 28 September and lists Peplinski and David Moorcroft as directors, with the registered address in Shropshire.
Peplinski said that the new company was trading normally and that a "significant amount of cash" had been injected into the business, with no staff made redundant. It will focus on specialist printed and unprinted flexible packaging for the food and medical sectors.
Peplinski also distanced himself from the previous company’s directors, stating that none of them will be directors of the new company. Companies House lists Kieran O’Reilly, Joseph O’Reilly and Mark Graham as directors of Cornwallis.
In its most recent accounts for the year to 31 May 2016, Cornwallis, which is based at Unit 21 Crewe Hall Enterprise Park, Weston Road, Crewe had fixed tangible assets of £1,005,090, a fall of 6% on the previous year’s figure. It owed creditors £2,025,907 within a year and £51,031 after one year.
The company’s website lists a wide variety of packaging services for the cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, confectionery and media industries. It was a previous recipient of a European Flexographic Industry Association (EFIA) Award.
Cornwallis Company (Cheshire) rose from the ashes of Cornwallis Company (North West), which appointed Poxon and Kevin Murphy as joint administrators on 4 July 2013. The business and assets of Cornwallis Company (North West) were sold to Cornwallis Company (Cheshire), which had the same directors, in a pre-pack sale for £90,000.
In 2012, the year prior to its collapse, it had sales of £6.3m, but following a number of supply issues and the delayed installation of a press, its sales fell to £4.7m in 2013.
According to the Statement of Administrator’s Proposals, the then 32-staff business had racked up “substantial trading losses” in 2012/2013. At the time of its collapse it had debts of £1.8m, including £1m to unsecured creditors.
