Handforth had worked at Apex for more than 15 years. He was among a number of the firm’s employees to Tupe over to M-Partners Group in July, when the firm took over sales and service for the RMGT presses previously handled by Apex.

Following a three-month handover process, he has now taken up the new role of sales director at pressroom consumables and niche equipment firm CyanX in Leeds, after being approached by the firm’s managing director Richard Mawson.

“When it became public knowledge that Apex was going to close, Richard phoned me straightaway, and now here I am,” Handforth said.

“We have known each other for a long time – back to the Knight Organisation days. He’s got a lot of capital equipment which is my forte, alongside a strong service business. I saw an opportunity for us to grow it together.”

The CyanX product range includes Eltosch Grafix drying systems, Betz ink supply equipment, and the Trimatt Cardline device for attaching plastic cards and SIM cards.

“My remit is to focus on sales growth on the capital equipment side, and with the success of LED UV there’s a lot of interest in drying systems in particular,” Handforth added.