Completed on 1 November 2024, the acquisition will see Goldcrest continue to operate with full staff and rebrand under the Customark name.
The sale will allow ESP to focus on its core commercial and wide-format print business, with Customark adding several new products to its portfolio, including gamma radiation-sensitive labelling.
“I was interested in Goldcrest because of the market sectors they operate in, so I approached Simon and he was interested. It was non-core to them, and he was looking for the right place for it to go,” Customark managing director Greg Lerigo told Printweek.
Lerigo first approached Simon Smogur, ESP chief executive, about a potential sale in March 2024; during the course of discussions, Customark also purchased label companies Charnwood Label Craft in August, Kingsbury Screens and Industrial Screen Print. In December 2023, it bought Prisym ID’s Wokingham labelling division, less than a month after buying Paramount labels out of administration.
In each acquisition, Customark has sought to retain all staff and expand the acquired operation under Customark’s brand name. Lerigo credited a good working relationship with Sterling Capital Reserve for the company’s successful string of acquisitions, with Sterling facilitating this round of funding. Further expansions have been planned for 2025, with funds raised through Allica Bank.
“It’s a great company, and we sold it to Greg in part because we knew he would keep running it as it is,” said Smogur, speaking to Printweek.
“He’s a great chap, and I like what he’s trying to achieve, and we knew he was going to treat all the staff fairly. For us as a business, it was a strategic decision to keep things focused on the core.”
Customark has already put in some rewinding equipment, surplus from its Prism acquisition, into the Goldcrest site.
The acquisition has brought an additional £1.4m of turnover to Customark, swelling the firm’s revenues to around £12m in total.
ESP bought Goldcrest’s parent company, Goldcrest Group, in late 2023, also bringing onboard Severn Print and Interprint.
Severn Print was forced to close just months after purchase, after it was revealed immediately after the acquisition that a key £1.5m client had been lost. ESP is now on good footing, Smogur said, and has managed to take on several employees of the recently-defunct Acorn Press.
