Howitt in talks on paper debt

Howitt is believed to be in talks with some major paper suppliers over the restructuring of outstanding debts.

The Nottinghamshire group, which has been struggling to make progress with its plans for the Equator gravure project, declined to comment.

It did, however, confirm the departures of Dr Laurence Powell and Andrew Lipinski, as revealed in PrintWeek last week (PrintWeek, 9 October).

Howitt has also scotched rumours that it had made an equity investment in South African printer Printability, where its chief executive, James Elliot, is also a director.

The investment in Printability was one of a number of opportunities the John Howitt Group was looking into and with which we did not proceed, the group said in a statement. As a result no investment was made.