The Melbourne, South Derbyshire-based business completed its acquisition of Tiverton, Devon-based Limbus Labels at the end of last month.
Included in the deal is Limbus’ sales book as well as its print and finishing kit, which includes an MPS EB370 eight-colour UV flexo press that was moved up to Positive ID’s premises last week.
Limbus owner Hank Arnold will also stay on for at least 12 months to ensure continuity of service and quality for his customers. The firm’s branding will also be retained, at least during the transition period.
Limbus had been leasing its site in Tiverton, though Arnold will personally remain based in the area, travelling up to Melbourne on a regular basis.
The acquisition will increase Positive ID’s turnover by 25% to over £2m, with Limbus Labels contributing around £400,000 of group sales.
Positive ID Labels technical director Pete Howells told PrintWeek: “Our managing director John [Mayers] is always on the acquisition trail to increase the size of the company and he’d been in talks with Hank for around 12 months.
“Hank has done a good job of building up his company and we’re really happy to have him – he’s got so much knowledge that he can bring into our company and it hopefully protects that customer base. Fundamentally it means the most seamless acquisition we can manage.”
He added: “So the acquisition was a two-pronged decision; we get £400,000 of additional turnover by buying the company and the sales book and inside that we get this top quality printing press.
“The setup times on it are fractions compared to what we had on our old equipment and we can nail really high resolutions without any worries about keeping registrations. It’s cutting-edge technology in terms of servo-assisted registration and it runs beautifully.”
Positive ID Labels offers low-volume, full-colour digital and high-volume, full-colour flexographic printing to all industries. It also offers thermal printing services as well as price guns and price gun labels.
The firm operates from two sites totalling more than 3,000sqm space at which it also runs a range of presses from Mark Andy, Rotopress and Daco Solutions as well as an EFI Jetrion 4900.
