Mail-Well is making redundancies at its Label Double S site in Bradford and has also announced plans to sell off its label interests, which include Customark in Cradley Heath, Stampiton of Stockport and Double S.


GPMU West Yorkshire branch secretary Ronnie Fieldhouse said the union wasnt involved in the redundancy process. He knew the firm was looking at making redundancies, but didnt know how many there would be.


One source close to the company said that 21 employees had been served notice of their redundancy, but that figure was not confirmed as PrintWeek went to press.


A spokesman for Mail-Well said: The company is taking a new direction and concentrating on its two largest segments, envelopes and commercial printing. Mail-Well is looking to sell off its entire label division, but we believe that could take up to a year.


However, the spokesman refused to speculate on whether the label division would be sold off as a whole or as its constituent firms.
Along with the three UK-based firms, Mail-Wells label division has 15 plants in the US, three in Canada and one in Mexico.


In a statement to the New York Stock Exchange,
Mail-Well chief executive Paul Reilly said: We must simplify our business and sharpen our strategic focus in order to compete more effectively as one company and to address investor confusion over multiple product lines.


Last year Mail-Well recorded net sales of 1.6bn ($2.43bn) with a net income of 19.5m. The label division accounted for 161.2m of the groups sales, but made an operating loss of 344,000 after restructuring and impairment charges.


Story by John Davies