The acquisitive group has increasingly used the Walstead branding as it has expanded on the continent, and the re-brand will bring the UK operations in line with the rest of the group.
Its UK production sites will be renamed Walstead Bicester, Walstead Binders, Walstead Grange, Walstead Peterborough, Walstead Roche and Walstead Southernprint.
Pre-media business Rhapsody’s name is unchanged, while the Polish pre-media business acquired alongside the LSC Communications’ web offset business will become Rhapsody Poland.
Group chief executive Paul Utting, who joined the former Wyndeham Press Group in 2003, said: “It’s the end of an era, but the Walstead name has become an increasingly well-known brand across Europe, whereas Wyndeham was always a local UK brand.”
He said the harmonised branding would “clearly communicate the scale of Walstead’s offering”.
“Walstead is now synonymous with market leadership so it does make sense to align behind that brand across Europe,” he stated.
Utting said Rhapsody would not take the Walstead prefix, because it was a well-known standalone brand in its field of creative production. Rhapsody now has sales of around €8m (£7.2m) including its Spanish and Polish operations.
“We are trying to develop that across the European platform as well,” he added.
The group’s Polish and Austrian operations have become Walstead Leykam and Walstead CE, with sub-brands under that using the plant names in the same style as the UK.
Separately, Walstead has announced a restructuring at its Walstead Leykam business unit that will result in around 114 job losses, and the creation of some new roles at its Czech Republic operation.
Utting said that two of the Austrian plants would become more focused on long-run press-finished products for the retail market, while some existing bindery and press equipment would be relocated to the Czech plant, which will focus on magazines and catalogues. Walstead Leykam employs around 500 staff in total.
The overall group employs some 4,400 staff across 19 production facilities. Following the acquisition of €200m turnover LSC Poland last year, Walstead now has pro forma sales of €730m.
