Burgess, Beziers largest subsidiary with a 30m turnover, is to close. The news came as a bombshell to the 195 staff of Europes largest independent greetings card printer who had previously been told that the operation would receive investment to create a single-site superplant combining all operations under one roof.
"The decision to close Burgess was the result of the combination of a number of factors," said chief executive Brian Dudley. "Theres been a lot on consolidation in the industry and greetings cards are becoming a commodity product."
Around 60% of the companys traditional customer base now has its own production capacity. The was therefore little chance of making Burgess profitable, Dudley explained.
Dudley also blamed oversupply, a problem which he believes is afflicting the whole of printing. "Certain parts of the industry have a death wish. Fifty percent of the press orders taken at Drupa are not justified," he said.
The decision was entirely driven by commercial pressures and does not reflect in any way on the quality of the production at the plant or any need to invest in new equipment, explained Dudley.
Underlying these problems was the fact that the Abingdon site offered few opportunities to downscale sufficiently to reduce the cost base.
The staff at Burgess, who received the closure news on Wednesday afternoon, are unlikely to be offered alternative work within the Bezier group. "The location of the Abingdon plant makes this highly unlikely," said Dudley. "But I feel hopeful that the majority of staff will find suitable employment locally."
The Abingdon facility is also home to Bezier Journals and the companys corporate office. No decision has yet been made about their future location. There is the possibility that a new tenant will be found to fill out the site as this is allowed under the terms of the lease.
Burgess managing director Chris Goodall left the company earlier this year to be replace by Peter David who was previously director of operations at Senior, an aerospace and automobile engineering company.
Story by Anthony Clark