Andrew Pear of London-based BM Advisory was appointed administrator on 1 June and oversaw the transaction, which took place on the same day.
The Mattech business was incorporated on 8 May 2017, founded by former ESP production manager Matthew Hood, whose father Stephen Hood founded ESP in 1993. Matthew Hood is now ESP managing director and Stephen Hood is providing administrative assistance. Mattech also retained ESP's 10-strong workforce.
According to Companies House, Mattech Enterprises changed its name to ESP Technologies Group on 8 June.
The new business is still operating from the former company's Aylesford, Kent premises but has downsized from three units totalling 1,900sqm to two units totalling 1,200sqm. The new business also no longer offers screen printing, but purely digital wide-format.
Stephen Hood said: “The main trigger [for the administration] was the loss of a large customer last year, and then it became difficult to suddenly drop our costs or ramp up sales fast enough.
“Then we had an appalling April [2017] of sales, which came out of nowhere. It reached a point where it was untenable with the existing costs.”
Hood added that he had planned to close its screen printing facility and institute the reduction in premises size in two years' time, but “events had speeded up the process".
Pear said: “The sale of the business and assets has achieved a good outcome for stakeholders, securing 10 jobs alongside the continuation of service to a number of loyal, national customers.”
He added that the creditors’ list is “fairly modest” and that the largest creditors were Stephen Hood and his wife.
According to Pear, the loss of the key client and the drop in sales was compounded by "a substantial write-down" in fixed asset values, circa 70%, which led the ESP directors to look for a buyer for the business. SIA Group was appointed to market the business, but after some initial trade interest, no unconnected party offers were made and, as a result, the business was sold to Mattech.
Throughout the restructuring process, BM said it worked alongside the company to utilise appropriate legal and valuation experts to support the process.
ESP had invested £2m on new kit in the past four years, including on two EFI Vutek machines, a 5m-wide GS5500LXr and a further 3.2m-wide machine.
It counts the International Tennis Federation as one of its biggest clients and since getting rid of its screen printing facility has retained the client and migrated all this work over to digital.
Other than the Vuteks, it has dye-sublimation and finishing facilities, including laminating, welding and cutting. It produces the likes of floor graphics, vehicle wraps, self-adhesive graphics and hoardings and also offers a project management and installation service. In 2002, It became the first company in the world to install a Vutek PressVu UV 180.
