Direct on Demand Print (DODP) ceased trading on 24 January, with Armitage confirming a number of redundancies were made the same day. Liquidators Mark Tailby and Craig Ridgley of Mercian Advisory were appointed on 7 March.
While DODP’s website – and those of its three key brands, towel printer Tawul, merchandiser Kids Merch, and flag merchant Terrace Flags – remain online, the firm’s phone has been disconnected.
The three brands have now been listed separately under the website of Direct Sourcing Manufacturing, another company run by Armitage, with the web page reading ‘under construction’.
Armitage declined to comment as to whether there had been any sale of assets from the stricken business, adding: “This will come out in the summary presented by the administrators.”
In a statement, Tailby conrfimed his appointment as joint liquidator and added “...matters relating to investigations regarding the conduct of the former director were ongoing. Results of these investigations would be confirmed to creditors of the company in due course.”
Armitage first came to the print industry in July 2022, when his firm Direct Sourcing Ingredients acquired Lincolnshire print firm 2011 Trading Ltd, which traded as Your Print Partner.
The acquisition suffered a rocky start, with 2011 Trading entering liquidation just 17 months later. Armitage set up a second business, DODP, from the same address. Buying 2011 Trading’s plant, machinery and furniture, DODP would prove even shorter-lived, entering liquidation after just 16 months.
“The print business is very, very difficult to make any sort of money, and my losses are very, very heavy,” Armitage said, citing the particular difficulties of rising overheads afflicting the wider print industry.
“I saw what I deemed an opportunity, but the biggest loser over the past two years is myself.”
At the time of liquidation, DODP owed more than £360,000 in intercompany loans, with Direct Sourcing Ingredients alone hit by a £324,000 shortfall – making it the second largest creditor.
DODP’s website stated the firm had in-house print facilities, including direct-to-garment technology. The firm had £574,000 in financed assets, with liquidators estimating the company held £132,000 of stock and its uncharged plant and machinery had a book worth of around £86,000.
Armitage said the firm had “no assets within the company” and added he would be unlikely to continue on in the industry: “Not from the damage, the losses that I’ve felt.
“Of the different industries I’ve worked in, print is definitely the most competitive.”
