Newbould was COO of YM until the 2016 MBO at the business, after which he became a non-executive director. 

He subsequently put forward a turnaround plan for the struggling group in the spring of 2019, but it was rejected by YM’s board. 

YM’s three web factories went into administration at the end of March.

Walstead Group acquired the assets of York Mailing and Pindar Scarborough earlier this month, along with some kit from YM Chantry. 

Group chief operating officer Roy Kingston told Printweek bringing Newbould on board as a consultant was in line with the statement from chairman Mark Scanlon, who said at the time that Walstead would consider the possibility of operating some equipment at one of the former YM sites – if there was sufficient demand from customers.

“We are building a plan and still trying to locate customers, and Mike knows most of them,” Kingston explained. 

"Mike is working with us, Jon Hearnden [group sales director] and the sales team to point us in the right direction of where those customers will be.”

YM’s web plants had handled a substantial amount of commercial work, whereas Walstead’s focus has primarily been on publications. 

“Some customers place work once a year and may not even know about what’s happened at YM,” Kingston added. 

“Some will be in a position where they’re not currently producing catalogues, and some will be looking at paper availability and will skip it [production].”

He said the group “did not need to gamble” when it came to potentially restarting one of the shuttered factories, and any decision would be sales-led. 

“We don’t want a return to having more capacity than is required in the market again,” he stated. 

“I have never subscribed to ‘build it and they will come’ – that only worked for Kevin Costner.”

Separately, a Muller Martini Tempo stitcher among the assets acquired by Walstead has been relocated from YM Chantry to Walstead Roche in Cornwall. 

“We moved it straightaway, and it should be running by the beginning of July,” Kingston said.

“We liked the look of it, it has inserting facilities and is a nice line, and Roche needed a bit more stitching power.”