Business

BGP, St Ives and Polestar have picked up the main work from Quebecor World’s site in Corby after its closure was announced this week.

Administrators at the site, whose future has hung in the balance since before Christmas, told staff and unions on Monday evening of plans to close the plant.

Some 250 staff were immediately made redundant, with a skeleton staff of around 40 kept on for a period of several weeks until the site finally closes. The move has been greeted with anger by unions and staff.

Administrator Ian Best of Ernst & Young said that the business had been losing £4m per year prior to the administration, and that losses in January and February had been particularly heavy. “This level of losses [could not] be sustained any longer,” he said.

PrintWeek understands that although publishers and rival printers had toured the plant following its move into administration two weeks ago, no deal was ever on the table to purchase the business as a going concern.

Following Monday’s announcement, publishers including H Bauer, Guardian News and Media, Hachette Filipacchi and Sport Media have moved quickly to send work elsewhere (see box).

Frank Ryan, production director at H Bauer, which produced more than 1.5m magazines per week at the site, said that the closure was a blow for the industry.

“It is sad to lose a good company and a competent workforce and the news is devastating for the workers and their families. We stayed on as long as was possible in an attempt to support the business and its workers,” he said.

Greg Miall, publishing director of free magazine Sport, confirmed that the next issue of the magazine would be printed by St Ives, although no plans for the long term had been finalised.

He said: “We had an inkling it may happen, so it did not come totally out of the blue and the decision to move was not taken this morning.”

Bob Steadman, director of print, distribution and sales at Guardian News and Media confirmed that certain supplements for The Observer had moved to Polestar, but said that the company’s “discussions regarding a long-term solution continue”.

No representatives of Quebecor World in the UK or Canada were available to comment.

Anger over the closure of the Corby site has been directed towards the company’s Canadian parent Quebecor World Inc.

Tony Burke, Unite assistant general secretary, launched a bitter attack on the company: “The blame for all this lies with the Quebecor parent company. Our members are entitled to feel betrayed by the company they have worked for, many of whom for many years.”