Business News
WYNDEHAM OWNER BUYS SOUTHERNPRINT
Thursday 30. July 2009 - Walstead Investments, the owner of Wyndeham Press Group, has acquired Southernprint from Newsquest Media Group. The deal was completed on 27 July.
Southernprint employs 330 staff and operates five web offset presses including a Lithoman IV 64/72pp at its printing facility in Poole, Dorset.
Financial backing for the acquisition was provided by Leumi ABL, together with £2 million from Cigala LLP, an investment vehicle of Walstead directors Mark Scanlon, Richard Fookes and Stephen Hargrave.
Following this transaction, the enlarged Walstead group, consisting of Wyndeham Press Group and Southernprint, will vie with St. Ives as the second largest manufacturer of magazines in the UK. Turnover is more than £100 million and 900 staff are employed across eight operations.
Charles Jarrold remains as Managing Director of Southernprint and will join the Wyndeham Press Group board. Paul Utting, Wyndehams Chief Executive and Walstead director, and Andy Page, Wyndehams Group Finance Director, have been appointed directors of Southernprint.
Paul Utting commented: “Southernprint was a non-core subsidiary of Newsquest. However, it will form an important part of our business and will be a key component of our long-term strategy. Charles and his team have an outstanding reputation for delivering quality product and high levels of customer service. We will now work on the opportunity to combine Southernprint and Wyndeham into the leading and most focussed web offset and sheet-fed printer of magazines and commercial publications in the UK. Our new investors and funders understand our strategy and, as demonstrated by this acquisition, want to support our future development.”
Charles Jarrold commented: “By incorporating Southernprint into a larger, print-focussed group we will be better placed to build on the substantial progress the business has made in the last few years. By joining with Wyndeham, we will be able to offer a greater range of services and technologies for the benefit of our customers.”
Mark Scanlon, Chairman of Walstead, commented: “This sector has been and continues to be ripe for consolidation. There are just too many unprofitable printers with spare capacity chasing diminishing volumes of work. I anticipate there will be more deals like this resulting in fewer but larger players in the web offset market. Publishers will be better served if there are stronger printers that can deliver sustainable services underpinned by healthy balance sheets. When this market equilibrium is achieved we will then see the long overdue reinvestment in people and technologies needed to stabilise the industry. We expect Walstead to play a significant part in the evolution of the sector.”