Slater Harrison and sister company Webmaster were shuttered last week.
The Slater Harrison business was originally established in Bollington, Cheshire in 1929 and started off making laminated display boards used for handwritten window signs.
It moved into its Lowerhouse Mills site in the 1930s.
Slater Harrison’s paper and card product range included ColourMount, used in framing; the Centura range of papers featuring fluorescents with CenturaNeon (formerly DayGlo); and Educraft coloured paper and card used in nurseries and other educational settings.
The firm also offered a range of contract services spanning sheeting, slitting, collating, laminating, embossing and coating.
Parent company LS Dixon Group acquired Webmaster in 2000 to add self-adhesive products for the label and tape industries. Webmaster operated from the same site.
Managing director James Braddock had been with the firm for more than 30 years, having begun working there when he was still in sixth form.
Posting on LinkedIn, he said: “A sad day today. Slater Harrison and Webmaster will close their doors for the final time after 95 years in the trade.
“As many of you know, I've been here since I left school and it's been a wonderful experience. I'd like to express thanks to colleagues, suppliers and customers for contributing to my time here.”
He described the past five years as being “incredibly turbulent for the trade as a whole” and said even the good years had taken their toll.
“As I step down from my role as MD I look back proud of my team for everything we did in very difficult circumstances to try to avoid this situation.”
A paper industry source commented: “It’s sad seeing another British manufacturer disappear.”
LS Dixon Group’s accounts for calendar year 2023 showed sales of £11.16m and an operating loss of £354,194. The prior year sales had been £11.85m with an operating profit of £335,595.
The bottom line loss was £1.49m, while the prior year loss was £846,181 after a £1.3m hit related to its defined benefit pension scheme.
At the December 2023 balance sheet date the pension scheme had a deficit of nearly £2.5m.
The group had 79 employees.
Slater Harrison was the biggest part of the group, with sales of just over £9m.
The Lowerhouse Mills freehold property was valued at £3.8m.
In the strategic report director Colin Dixon said at the time of writing, September 2024, management actions had been taken to restore profitability and were beginning to bear fruit.
A new corrugator production area was also being developed, with the aim of boosting its offering to the education market and also to supply bespoke packaging material.
It's not clear why the decision was made to shut down the two businesses.
Administrators Simon Jagger and Mark Supperstone from Evelyn Partners were appointed at Slater Harrison & Co Ltd and Webmaster Ltd on 22 January.
