Producing a wide range of printed logo, wash care and self-adhesive fabric labels, LabelServe services retail and manufacturing clients across the UK.
MRP’s acquisition of the company, which is located only a mile away from its own Nottingham premises, was completed in December.
The deal included the goodwill and assets, with equipment consisting of two textile printers and two self-adhesive label printers, all from Focus Label Machinery, and a raft of associated finishing kit.
LabelServe’s sole member of staff, Darren Catterns, has stayed on and has remained based at the firm’s existing premises, which MRP has taken over the lease of.
MRP sales and marketing director Catherine Tew told PrintWeek: “It was a natural decision when the company came up for sale. The previous owner retired and we’ve taken on Darren, who was doing the majority of the day-to-day running of the business.”
LabelServe’s name and corporate identity has been retained though its branding will be updated to show that it is now part of the MRP group.
“Existing customers will still get the excellent quality and service they’re used to. At the same time, we’ll be looking to grow the LabelServe client base and make the most of the synergies between our two companies to enhance the customer experience and range of printed products we have to offer,” said Tew.
“There are a few customers that we’ve already been able to help on the packaging side of our company, which has been really good, but so far we’ve generally just been getting a feel for how LabelServe runs.
“The garment/ribbon side of it is all new to us so it’s all learning on that side. We have got a flexo department ourselves, but that is more for four- to seven-colour specialist work, so it’s nice to be able to do the smaller black and white and simple colour work there.”
While turnover was not disclosed, MRP said it is aiming to grow LabelServe’s sales by around a third this year and is hoping to boost the wider 65-staff group’s turnover by around 10%.
MRP serves the vaping, beauty and pharmaceutical markets among others. It currently carries out the litho and digital printing of labels and packaging in-house, as well as other finishing processes including gluing and stitching.
In October the business brought laminating services in-house after investing in a Lamina FA Blackline 1600/800 automated laminator from Lamina System.
This followed a major 2017 investment programme that saw it purchase a six-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 106, an Easymatrix 106 die-cutter and a BGM Elite die-cutter slitter rewinder. It also refreshed its MIS setup in 2017 after investing in an Imprint system.
