Based in Bristol, the company has been run by the Taylor family since 1832. Spanning five generations, the last Taylors passed on their company in September last year as Charles Taylor elected to retire and his nephew Nick Taylor chose to follow him out of the business.
An MBO saw a team of six members of staff take ownership of the firm. One-time sales director Nigel Millen stepped up as managing director and now heads a leadership team comprising production director Tim Thorne, sales director Shaun Cooper, sales and marketing director Ian Mountjoy, pre-press and digital director James Shield and finance director Wei Xue. The team officially took charge on 7 September last year.
Concurrently, plans were in motion for Taylor Brothers to relocate from its premises in the centre of Bristol, which it had worked from since the end of the second world war. The move to a purpose-built 1,020sqm site two miles from the centre was completed last September.
Managing director Nigel Millen said: “The main element of the sale, underneath the fact that Charles was retiring, was the fact that though the business was at a crossroads, it was sound, solid and profitable with a great customer base and reputation. It would have been a tragedy to let this fall by the wayside.
“For Charles and Nick, there was a desire to keep the business going, and there was a desire on both sides of the deal to make this work. I think the legacy they leave as we push forward is the ethics of the business.
“We are an honest, straightforward, hard-working operation with no one driving around in flash cars and we have strong relationships with our customers at our foundation. We have always had a good reputation for making sure we are operating at the highest level.”
Following the move to the new premises, three new members of staff were hired in Taylor Brothers’ bindery department and in January a contract worker was trained to go full-time in the company’s pre-press wing. The company now employs 28 people.
In March, Bristol and Bath City Council chose to renew a framework agreement with Taylor Brothers to print its communication literature, ranging from business cards to multi-page documents. The firm had worked the contract for six years and this renewal extends it by a further three.
Taylor Brother’s digital offering comprises two Heidelberg Versafire digital presses – a CP130 and a CP110 – alongside two Epson wide-format proofers – a 7900 and a 7890. Its litho operation is carried solely by a Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 75, after a 15-year-old CP 74 was disposed of to “streamline” following the relocation.
Millen said the next consideration for the £3m-turnover business would likely be around adding more wide-format equipment, though the general plan is to solidify its standing six months on from the MBO.
