The Global MP story became something of a rollercoaster. Administrators from Baker Tilly were appointed on 1 July, the company ceased to trade with immediate effect and all 150 staff were made redundant. The following day Close Brothers Asset Finance confirmed that the firm's kit had been sold late on 30 June, the day before the company was placed in administration, to an unnamed buyer after all hope of a solvent sale of the business had been lost. At the time, the fate of the mailing arm, which was not covered by the administration, remained uncertain. On 3 July the buyer of the kit was revealed as Walstead Investments who had also been approached to buy the business. Walstead chairman Mark Scanlon said: "I was contacted by Mr [Global MP chief executive Kevin] Dunstall on 11 June when he asked if Walstead would be interested in acquiring part or all of his company. We started due diligence, which identified a number of financial issues, and concluded that the business would only be viable if it was subject to an insolvency process and its cost base substantially reduced". Meanwhile, by 10 July, staff at Global MP Mailing were in a state of limbo, waiting for Dunstall to put the firm into administration or liquidation so they could claim their missing wages and redundancy from the state. The Printing Charity offered its services to concerned employees. On 31 July PrintWeek learned that a company called Argo Navis Holdings, which claimed to be registered in the British Virgin Islands, had been in contact with at least one print company owner expressing interest in acquiring their business. The Argo Navis Holdings website was registered to a Kevin Dunstall... After being bought out of administration in May by Paragon Group, Service Point UK announced a major recruitment drive with up to 40 vacancies to be filled by the end of the year as it began to rebuild... As an example of how to close a business down with grace and honour, repro firm Dot Gradations ceased trading following a handover of its archives and order book to Tag Publishing. The two directors of the firm along with two of the firm’s other four employees retired, while the remaining two staff were taken on by Tag Publishing... Thomas Montgomery, the former owner of the collapsed Scottish print group Montgomery Litho, has returned to print as part of a buy-in management buy-out team at DS Smith Plastics Print Solutions... On 3 July the trading status of trade finisher Purfect Binding Company was unclear, with staff understood to have been sent home. The company was eventually liquidated on 14 July, almost exactly one year after it was bought by NGS Finishing Solutions... Chesapeake/MPS Greenford invested in a four-colour KBA Rapida 106 B1 press to increase its production options. The press spend represented the bulk of a £3m investment programme... 

Europlast (Blackburn) was fined £50,010 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £23,102 after an employee had to have part of his finger amputated following an accident in June 2012... Capita invested £17m in a new 'white paper' print and distribution facility in Mansfield that will house the first two Impika inkjet web presses in the UK. David Lockie, divisional managing director of Capita document and information services, said the presses would help the firm overcome “capacity issues”... St Ives chief executive Patrick Martell left the firm after 34 years to join £1.1bn events and business information giant Informa... Book manufacturer TJ International upgraded its post-press facilities with a £3.5m investment in Kolbus bindery equipment... Glasgow printer Bell & Bain became the first UK printer to install a Muller Martini Diamant MC case binding line... Royal Mail Group notified the stock market that one of its subsidiaries, GLS France, was being investigated by French competition authority Autorité de la Concurrence. The probe formed part of a broader investigation into alleged anticompetitive activities within the French industry that also included TNT Express and FedEx... GI Solutions has invested in the "world’s first" window applicator for an inline finishing system to give it the capability to produce windowed mailpacks at high speed and in high volumes... Team Impression invested in a seven-colour HP Indigo 10000 B2 press to increase its digital capabilities. The Leeds-based printer spent around £1.1m on the press... Independent cartonboard and graphical board stockist Warren announced that its new converting facility, part of a seven-figure investment programme to expand its service offerings, was now operational... Immediate Media acquired Future's Sports and Craft titles, which have an audited print circulation of more than 250,000 a month, in a deal valued at up to £24m... Ipex owner Informa described the financial contribution from the show as “muted” in its interim results. Ipex took place at London’s Excel exhibition centre in March, with a much smaller footprint than had been initially envisaged and half the number of visitors compared with 2010...