Deal saves 150 jobs at printing group

19th February 2009

THE direct marketing arm of a Yorkshire printing firm has been acquired in a deal that saves 150 jobs and creates a new £8m turnover business.

Leeds-based printing business John Blackburn, which trades as Blackburns and has 300 staff and a turnover of £30m, went into administration this week and the management team led by joint managing directors Andy Cowman and Nick Atkinson has acquired its direct market business.

The new management team received funding from Venture Finance in Leeds led by Dan Summerfield and were advised by Sterling Corporate Finance and law firm Schofield Sweeney.

Andy Cowman at Blackburn DMS said: “The direct marketing arm of the business is robust and stable and the support we have received from customers and staff has been absolutely phenomenal, which makes us even more pleased that we can now move forward and make the business even better.”

Chris Schofield, senior partner of Schofield Sweeney, who provided legal advice to the management team of Blackburn DMS, said: “John Blackburn is an iconic name among Yorkshire businesses and it would have been a great loss to the region if it had disappeared completely. As a Yorkshire businessman myself, I’m pleased that we were able to play a role in saving part of the company and the jobs within it.”

Graham Camm of Sterling Corporate Finance said: “In the current economic climate, we are acting for a large number of management teams in similar situations.

The print and direct marketing arms of John Blackburn were two distinct businesses. Unfortunately, competition and over-supply in the UK printing sector meant that we were unable to complete a deal for the acquisition of the printing arm of the business. But fortunately, there are very real opportunities for the direct marketing arm and we are glad that we were able to assist in saving jobs within that business.”

Paul Flint and Brian Green of KPMG’s Restructuring practice were appointed as joint administrators to John Blackburn on Monday with the firm making trading losses which resulted in cashflow problems.

The administrators have had to make 114 redundancies in the printing operation and are trading it on a limited basis, with 33 employees, and are keen to talk to any party that may have an interest in the business and assets.

Mr Flint, said: “I am very pleased to have achieved a sale that preserves a good number of jobs in a difficult market while of course it is disappointing that some redundancies were unavoidable.

"This sale allows the management team to trade the direct mail part of the company, giving the business and its employees the prospect of future prosperity.”