Danish companies LogoPaint, which focused on the football market, and 5m Print, which printed superwide graphics for exhibitions and events, have worked with the British company throughout its history.
Amayse said it was now one of the largest branding and signage companies in Europe able to provide a full range of branding and signage services. Its headquarters are in Vejle, Denmark, where both LogoPaint and 5m Print were located.
Former SignAway managing director, who is now Amayse managing director, Greg Craigen said the new company had “ambitious growth targets”. He did not want to reveal the combined turnover or turnover ambitions.
Craigen formed SignAway in 2007 and built it up to a company with an annual turnover in excess of £4m. The bulk of its work is for stadiums and sporting events but it also has clients in the retail and fashion industries. It specialises in 3D signs, a type of projection, and branched into print to service existing clients, running Vutek, Roland, HP and Mutoh kit at its 929sqm 18-staff facility in Esher, Surrey.
“They’ve got a lot of new products. We’ve been working together for a very long time; we’ve got some products they don’t have and vice versa. We can use their clients’ business to grow from that.”
The merger gives SignAway clients access to a Durst 5m-wide printer. The merged company, of 36 staff, is also expanding into the US. It has recently signed a lease on a warehouse there where it intends to establish a production facility. This will help Amayse with production for US SignAway motor racing client Nascar. Previously SignAway shipped products from either the UK or Denmark.
The chief executive of the new company is former LogoPaint chief executive Kurt Henning. Former chief operating officer of both LogoPaint and 5m Print Christian Sondergaard is chief operating officer. Craigen, Henning and Sondergaard worked together at a separate company in the 1990s and subsequently formed links between their three companies.
Amayse has also hired a business development manager and production staff member for the UK site and a new R&D person in Denmark. Otherwise the structure and staffing remain the same, Craigen said.
“It won’t affect customers, they only thing that will change is the name on the invoice.”
He said sport signage was “a 100% growth area”.
"There’s lot of opportunity there. We are working with most of these clubs on 3D signage and often we get asked to quote on other products. The growth is getting into other stadiums.”
Current clients include the Rugby Football Union, the Football Association, the Football League, sponsors such as Aviva and Sky Bet, and West Ham and Twickenham stadiums.
Henning said: “LogoPaint is pleased to be part of Amayse, merging with SignAway and 5m Print, to offer a complete and global solution to our combined clients’ branding and signage needs.”
