January 2010Consumables supplier Litho Supplies was bought out of administration by a vehicle owned by investor Hilco, headed up by formed shareholder and group sales director Eddie Williams… Mailing specialist Formpro Mail Marketing went into administration and 89 employees were made redundant. Parts of the business were sold back to shareholder Michael Hughes for £150,000… Tim Claypole of the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating and Peter Ingram of The Paper Trail were awarded MBEs in this year’s New Year’s Honours list… The Tall Group acquired Card Data Management to boost its financial services offering… Venture capital firm Thames Valley Capital announced it had bought a majority stake in TPF Group… Horizon Arts Equipment bought Graphic Arts Equipment out of administration… Former St Ives technical director John Charnock set up Print Research International to provide business analysis and consultancy to print and media firms… Newspaper printer Harmsworth Printing went into consultation over the closure of its Plymouth plant… Monochrome book printer Clays partnered with creative and production agency FMG to offer e-book conversion services to clients… Point of purchase specialist Clark Stephen closed. Managing director Frank Laurie started up new business CS Instore… In-store graphics company HL Display acquired point-of-purchase firm PPE in a deal worth more than £22m… Callprint Group purchased commercial printer Redwood Press out of administration, saving 15 jobs… Somerset printer Orchestra bought digital printer Cove… Blackburn-based companies NW Print and Envolve2 closed after going into administration… Royal Mail launched the Strategic Mailing Partnership in cooperation with leading direct mail firms…
February 2010
The Print Factory London and DSR Group went into administration with KPMG. The trade and assets of the print management division were sold to Office2office in a pre-pack deal… FT Print acquired rival print manager UDM Print Management to form a £26m-turnover group… Short-run book printer Athenaeum Press closed after going into administration, with around 30 staff at the £2m-turnover printer being made redundant… HH Print Management increased its global presence with a Turkish headquarters in Istanbul… Commercial printer Casburn Wayman, which traded as CW Print Group, ceased trading… Former Southernprint managing director Charles Jarrold joined St Ives as new business development director… Pindar chief executive Andrew Dalton announced plans to step down after 15 years with the group, to focus on his investment in his Yorkshire Alphagraphics franchise… east London printer Church Street Litho, which traded under the name Belgravia Colour Printers, went into administration… Ipex announced digital print technology would occupy more floor space than litho technology at its 2010 show… Scottish publisher DC Thomson & Co entered into a 30-day consultation with staff at its Glasgow print division due to plans to eliminate the day shift… Reader’s Digest in the UK filed for administration, putting more than 130 jobs at risk…
March 2010Wyndeham Press Group won a print contact for 45 IPC Media magazine titles… Blackburns DMS went into administration just over a year after buying the direct mail business of Blackburns in a pre-pack deal. Over a hundred staff were made redundant… More than 30 staff were made redundant when Senator Print Finishers went into administration… Peter Arnel, managing director of WHP Newbury, sold the business to an MBO team… Johnston Press began a consultation with 32 members of staff at its Peterborough site following a decision to reduce day printing… RR Donnelley announced plans to acquire US rival Bowne & Co in a move that would create a £2bn company… Mark Elmy resigned as patron of PrintIT! following Proskills’ decision to make the scheme’s project director Paul Evans redundant… Canon bought a 71% stake in Océ following the acceptance of its €8.60 (£7.80) per share offer… Directories business Yell began a consultation with staff at its Adworks division over the closure of four facilities… Print companies branded Unite’s call for a 3.7% wage increase as ludicrous…
April 2010
The Print Factory sold its main Northampton site to two former managers of the business, Andrew Parker and Mike Kingsman. The new business trades under the name Lexicon Press… Independent News and Media sold its loss-making The Independent and The Independent on Sunday titles… Mailcom shut its Boldon direct mail business resulting in the loss of 80 jobs… Williams Lea won a £100m, seven-year contract to take on the mailing operations of Royal Bank of Scotland in a deal that will involve 275 RBS staff transferring to Williams Lea… Kall Kwik UK was sued by one of its franchisees MGB Printing and Design for negligent advice and breach of contract in relation to a franchise and marketing agreement… Mercian Labels Group acquired the assets and goodwill of barcode labelling specialist AC Labels… Direct mail house Lick UK went into administration before being sold back to two of the company’s former directors in a pre-pack deal… Synergie Group bought some of the assets of WHP Newbury and recruited 21 of its former staff… Reader's Digest UK was bought out of administration by private equity group Better Capital in a deal that saved around 135 jobs… Celinco had failed to make any payments for Piggott Black Bear (Cambridge), which it purchased out of administration in September… Direct mail firm GI Solutions invested in fledgling DM specialist Lucid… Mailcom placed its entire company into administration before its was bought back in a pre-pack sale for £1m… Communisis started consultations over 23 redundancies at its Leeds sites and announced plans to close three 16-page presses to move away from "commoditised print"… Label printer William Sessions, which traded as Sessions of York, went into administration… BDP (UK) went into administration…
May 2010Paragon Print & Packaging bought the assets of William Sessions’ label division… Swiss Post International UK bought Southampton-based direct marketing company MCM Direct as part of its push into the UK retail market… Newspaper publisher Northern and Shell announced a £100m investment in printing kit, including four KBA presses… SP Group appointed Steve Parkin as managing director and Andrew Mallows as sales director… B2 and digital printer Pinstripe Print Group acquired local rival Edward Fox & Sons, creating a £4.5m turnover business… Direct mail business Document Despatch was sold to an MBO team, led by managing director Leigh Foster and financial director Doug Nichols… Garnett Dickinson expanded into the direct mail sector with the launch of Garnett Dickinson Mailing… Ipex opened the doors of its 2010 exhibition, with millions of pounds' worth of business being concluded on the first day of the show… Herald Business Forms, which traded as Weston Business Forms, went into administration… St Ives revealed plans to close its Edenbridge site… Celinco, the company that bought Piggott Black Bear’s assets, was set to be liquidated… Anton Group spent £12.6m at Ipex, on kit including three Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 105 long perfectors… CMYK, the print business of Blackpool-based CMYK Group, went into administration and ceased trading… Shanghai Electric Group announced plans to acquire Goss International after taking a majority share in the manufacturer in 2009…
June 2010
St Ives bought database marketing services company Occam DM in a deal worth up to £12m… The Plain Label Company went into administration and was bought back again by its previous directors Andrew Kneale, Michael Briggs and Ian Bullingham… De La Rue closed its final salary pension scheme, stating a pension deficit of £204m… Garnett Dickinson added magazine distribution to its offering with the purchase of Native Publisher Services… The Home Office confirmed plans to scrap the £5bn ID cards scheme… 180-year-old printer Woods of Perth ceased trading and all 71 staff were made redundant… Lexicon Press completed its acquisition of York Mailing’s Centre Web site… Former St Ives group sales director Simon Ward confirmed his return to print following his £3.2m acquisition of Kent-based Total Marketing Services… DC Thomson proposed the closure of its bookbinding, gravure and sheetfed operations in Dundee, jeopardising 350 jobs… The labelling machinery division of William Sessions, which traded as Sessions of York, was bought out of administration by Audasi Investment Group… BemroseBooth made 186 staff redundant after announcing plans to close its two Derby sites ahead of likely administration… Newspaper publisher Archant acquired Kent-based KOS Media… Alito Color took a controlling stake in Lexicon Press…
July 2010BemroseBooth went into administration, after closing the company’s two Derby sites and cutting 160 jobs… CSDM, which provided print management as part of its services, went into administration. Its assets were sold on the same day to two CSDM subsidiaries… Cavendish Press fell into administration although Richmond Cavendish continued to trade out of the same site… London print finisher Croft (Printers & Bookbinders) closed… Dsicmm was bought by the US parent of DST Output, DST Systems, and was merged with DST’s UK print and mailing operation to form a new company… Pensord chief executive Tony Jones sold the magazine printer to a MBO team led by commercial director Darren Coxon and operations director Karl Gater… Poster and calendar printer Pyramid International bought the stock, brand name and some of the machinery of failed printer The Artful Group, which traded as The Art Group… Paragon Group bought BemroseBooth’s Hull and Teesside sites saving around 160 jobs… Magazine printer Polestar announced redundancies at both its Applied Solutions DM and business forms sites… Commercial printer Richmond Printers, which traded as Richmond Cavendish, was on the verge of administration…
August 2010
Commercial printer Colourworld Winchester, which traded as Colourworld Print Solutions, closed… Richmond Printers, which traded as Richmond Cavendish, ceased trading after going into administration… Envelope overprinter SCR Envelopes merged with rival Tower Supplies to create a £10m-turnover company… Andrew Tyler-Smith and Christopher Tyler-Smith, former directors of failed printer Colourworld Winchester, which traded as Colourworld Print Solutions, set up a new print business Rooster Digital… Finishing house Phoenix Print Finishing ceased trading and went into liquidation… De La Rue chief executive James Hussey quit the printer due to ongoing problems with banknote paper production… It emerged that charity donation management company CSDM went into administration owing almost £1.4m to creditors… Drug dealers were using a Paisley-based company, which operated as The Print Finishers, to supply £3.5m worth of cannabis across Scotland… North Wales printer Design 2 Print took a 52% stake in nearby graphic design agency Designbanc…
September 2010
Production resumed at CPC Packaging UK’s Bristol site, after the company’s collapse a week earlier… The Ordnance Survey ended 150 years of in-house litho print production by awarding a four-year contact worth around £10m to Butler, Tanner & Dennis… PPS Grasmere bought commercial printer Progressive Print Solutions… Clowes Printers (Manchester) went into administration… Rothschild-owned Five Arrows Leasing Group acquired industry asset-based lender Print Finance… Roy Kingston returned to Wyndeham Press Group, to take up his former position of chief operating officer, after leaving the company in 2007… Amcor Flexibles’ Livingston plant was demolished after suffering a fire…
October 2010Packaging printer Glossop Cartons bought the assets of collapsed printer Clowes Printers (Manchester) saving 18 jobs… Commercial printer LPC Print acquired The Midas Press… Broglia Press fell into administration, with the majority of its 64 staff left unpaid and their employment status unclear… Academic book printer Baldwin, which traded as Cromwell Press, was forced into administration… Croydon-based litho printer Prolitho ceased trading with the loss of 15 jobs and was set to re-emerge as a print management company… Borble, the north Wales-based digital label printer, merged with print management business Labels First… The UK arm of print finishing kit manufacturer Buhrs was closed and put into administration… Gutenberg Networks formed a joint venture partnership with Paperhat, ahead of a possible takeover of the London-based print manager… ProCo won PrintWeek’s Company of the Year at its 2010 awards… Around 200 jobs were at risk at Polestar Varnicoat after the group revealed plans to remove excess capacity and divest itself from unprofitable work… Prolitho ceased trading, owing more than £1.2m including trade debts of £448,252… The Herald Chase Group merged with local printer Conservatree in the hopes of creating a £10m turnover company… Paragon Group UK bought Rotherham trade forms printer Wright Printing Services out of administration…
November 2010
Liverpool mailing and fulfilment house Character DPM bought the assets of failed printer Paramount Print Group… Potts Printers rebranded as Potts Print (UK) on the back of record sales in 2010, with turnover expected to hit £12m by the end of the year… Digital Printing Services doubled its size with the acquisition of local litho printer Prime Print… More than 100 jobs were under threat at Southernprint and Southern Binders as a result of plans to cut "uneconomic capacity"... De-inking association Ingede said that the de-inking mills of its associate members would no longer accept Indigo liquid toner print for de-inking... Walstead Investments acquired Apple Web Offset... Target Print tipped off police to seize one of West Yorkshire's largest ever cannabis factories... Digital printer Inc Solutions was to close its doors after an agreement to repay its creditors was nixed by a winding-up order... Communisis announced it would cut around 80 jobs as part of a strategic review to save £4m a year... A delegation of UK web offset printers visited Mazzucchelli in Italy to see the Goss Sunday 5000 96pp web press in action...
December 2010
A group of printers helped police put a con artist who targeted print firms behind bars. David Gale's three-year scamming spree came to an end when he pleaded guilty to participating in fraudulent business. Sussex police said the printers' evidence was crucial to Gale's conviction... Euroworld went into liquidation leaving question marks over whether a £90,000 fine for employing illegal immigrants would be paid... Butler Tanner & Dennis ordered the UK's first Heidelberg VLF Speedmaster XL 162 press, promising to use the machine to push the boundaries in large-format printing... Commercial printer Technoprint criticised the lack of public sector support for UK manufacturing as it was forced to close its Barringtons of York subsidiary when the site was sold to a museum in a council-backed deal... Buxton Press announced plans to spend £11m on a presshall upgrade that would include six new long perfectors. The firm said it would replace a press a year between 2012 and 2018... Consumables price rises threatened to cause chaos in the industry as paper mills announced double-digit hikes for the new year and Flint Group and Sun Chemical blamed the spiralling cost of raw materials for raising prices...
