Fledgling finishing firm keeps it in the family to find its feet in just four years

After going full-time at his dad’s firm for four years, Nestor junior was barely out of his teens when he decided to have a go at running a business himself. Armed with a couple of stitching lines, two folders and a guillotine, he set up First4 at a 750sqm site in Blackburn. And around 18 months after setting up, he turned the tables on his dad and hired him as production director.

First4’s other three directors are lifelong friend and financial director Lorenzo Fardella and two shift directors, Simon Eggleston and Kim Nicholson. Both Eggleston and Nicholson worked for Clayton Park before joining First4. Nestor says: “We are a young company, with a young outlook. But we actually have more than 100 years of experience in print between us. That is a wealth of knowledge to tap into.”

The firm has grown quickly in its opening four years, with a current turnover of £6.2m. But First4 has been beating targets from the very start. “We expected turnover in year one to be around £300,000,” explains Nestor. “But we managed to double that, achieving £600,000. Since then, we have increased at an impressive rate.”

He is quick to downplay any possibility of the company growing as quickly in the future. “I want this company to be manageable,” he says. “You have to establish your place in the market and then drive forward. You don’t want to expand too quickly. People move too quickly and they become unstuck.”

Down the ranks
The company started out with five employees, but now has 63. Of those, 55 work on the factory floor. Rather than bringing in workers with print experience, it has looked for new blood. The firm has also worked with organisations for people who struggle to find employment. First4’s directors compare their approach to staff development to world-famous Dutch football side Ajax’s approach to training; everyone is taught to play the same way, with the same style of football all the way down the ranks.

Nestor explains: “The biggest cost is wages, so you have to invest in your labour. We have a certain way of working and if we bring someone in from another print company, they may have different ideas about how things work. We prefer to bring in workers with no experience and train them to work in our mould, get them into our working practice.”

The company works with i2i, an organisation that finds employment for people who have struggled to find work and also encourages its staff to keep portfolios of their work. First4 has started sending some staff to college in Manchester, with an onsite assessment carried out in order to gain qualifications. Nestor says: “We will be looking to sign up around two people a year to the college course, it focuses on print, but can specialise in finishing. It will increase our staff’s skill level. People appreciate what you give them and if you do that they are prepared to commit to you.”

New possibilities
In the four years that the company has been around, it has technically had four different locations, although you can walk between them in a matter of minutes. It now operates from a 3,500sqm factory, which it took on late last year, as part of a £1m investment. The spacious site has opened up new possibilities for the firm, but already Nestor is thinking about how to fill the gaps.

He explains: “There is lots of space at the site, so there is scope to do different things. We are considering cut and crease and UV varnishing. We are also looking into the possibility of bringing in two new folders in the next 12 months.”

As for the future, Nestor says that his choice of company name was deliberately chosen to keep options open. “We didn’t want to be pinned down to one place with our name, just in case we opened new sites or made acquisitions. And our name explains what we are, the first for finishing,” he says. He adds that if it did buy another company it would be in the North and would most likely signal a move away from the traditional folding and stitching.

David may not have children yet, but if he continues with his ambitious plans for this up and coming company, an heir to the First4Print Finishing throne could well earn his stripes working alongside dad – and grandad.

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FIRST4PRINT FINISHING
Founded 2003
Based Blackburn
Factory size 3,500sqm
Staff 63
Kit four stitching lines, six MBO folders, Heidelberg guillotines, two Palamides stacker delivery systems
Clients Trade clients; 65% of work is for direct mail. Clients also include banks, building societies and local authorities