Sutton-based DKP Finishing bought Surrey Laminators shortly after it fell into administration in April. It took on all 15 of Surrey Laminators’ staff and its entire range of fold, stitch and trimming, laminating, and spot UV equipment in the deal.

The two finishing companies had worked closely beforehand, and DKP Finishing owner Dave Measures said that administrator FRP Advisory approached him for the sale.

He said: "I was interested – it’s a local company and I didn’t feel that the business should go.

"Instead it has enabled us to merge the two companies and increase our offerings all from one unit."

Measures plans to move the DKP Finishing business from its 465sqm Sutton plant into the 836sqm Croydon facility within the next eight weeks. He said that together the companies had to sell around 10 pieces of equipment to make room for them both under one roof.

"Between us we had a few machines that were not being utilised to maximum capacity so we have sold them off. We had surplus stitching and folding machines and gumming equipment that wasn’t justifying its size in the plant.

"We’ve also sold off one of our laminators, the Paperplast 76, but kept the Paperplast 102 to offer B1 and lower. With the two laminators, we could put extra work onto the 76 if the bigger one was busy, but now we will have to do some shuffling around to make sure we can work with just one," he added.

Among equipment to be retained by the companies wass a Bograma BS Multi 450 Servo Plus die-cutter, which was bought by Surrey Laminators from Friedheim International last September.

The machine was bought to handle a specific job of 61mm square booklets, which still keeps it running at 60%, producing volumes of up to 1m each month.

However, before the company fell into administration, Surrey Laminators had intended to market its die-cutting capabilities to bolster its capacity.

DKP Finishing’s Jonathan Ellis said: "The Bograma was Surrey Laminators' best option because it is the only one which enables us to trim down to that size with its head and foot trimming at a thickness of up to 3.5mm.

"The machine was fully up and running by December, but by then we had all the issues with volumes falling at Surrey Laminators so we didn’t get a chance to market the die-cutting."

Measures explained that the money regained by the sales would be invested back into the company, firstly to extend the mezzanine floor at the Croydon unit to increase storage space. However, he added that the merged companies would take a break from investing until the end of the year.

He said: "For now we are going to get the two businesses up and running, but take a step back and see which direction it takes us in. In the new year, we will look to invest around £250,000 in areas which we see are the most profitable for our new business."