A spokesperson for the Walsall-based company, which changed its name from Ortek Graphics in March 2015, confirmed to PrintWeek that the business had ceased trading. The spokesperson said a liquidator had been appointed but did not name the liquidator.
Although contacted by a number of sources in reference to the closure, PrintWeek could not reach anyone else at Ortek for further comment and the firm's phone lines are currently ringing out.
One source said that one of Ortek’s directors, Craig Morris, "sick of subsidising the business", came into work on Monday (24 July) and told employees he had sold all of his assets, including his house, to pay off creditors. At this point he was said to have decided to close. Another source said he believed the business had closed within the past week.
Companies House lists Ortek’s two other directors as Anne-Marie Morris and Adrian Cartwright. In its most recent accounts for the year to 31 August 2016, it had fixed assets with a net book value of £2,673,200. It owed creditors £1,549,353 within a year and £761,376 after a year. It also had three outstanding charges, dated from 2008 to 2015.
Founded 25 years ago, Ortek, which was based at Units 1 and 2 Redhouse Industrial Estate, Middlemore Lane West, Aldridge, Walsall, West Midlands, WS9 8B, provided B2B print, packaging and POS services, along with design.
Its plant list included two Komori Lithrone litho presses, one Kodak NexPress 2500, one EFI Vutek GS2000, one Canon imagePrograf-8000S, one Fujifilm Acuity LED 1600, one Zünd GS L-3200 cutting table and several Stahlfolders and Polar guillotines.
It previously ran Kodak's PressProof pre-press software, becoming the first European company to install the software more than 10 years ago.
It served a variety of sectors, including automotive, real estate and cosmetics, and held ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 environmental certification, along with FSC Chain of Custody Certification.
