Calderprint poised to appoint administrators

Calderprint has filed a notice of intent to appoint administrators and is understood to have closed.

PrintWeek understands that the Burnley commercial printer shut down on Thursday (16 May), though this could not be confirmed at the time of writing.

A notice of intent to appoint administrators was filed on the same day at the High Court. It named Andrew Poxon and Julien Irving, who work for insolvency firm Leonard Curtis from its Bury and Manchester offices respectively, as the nominated administrators. Liverpool- and Manchester-based practice Bermans was named as the legal representative for the case.

According to the company's most recent accounts, to 31 May 2018, it had sales of £8.5m and employed 89 staff. The accounts showed a pre-tax loss of £188,743 compared to pre-tax profit of £145,803 the year prior.

In 2016, PrintWeek reported that Calderprint had passed the £10m sales mark with the acquisition of promotional gift company Whitney Woods.

PrintWeek understands that Whitney Woods is unaffected by the situation at Calderprint.

According to Companies House, Calderprint parent Calderprint Pinnacle ceased to be a "person with significant control" of Whitney Woods, with a simultaneous filing on 20 May stating that Calderprint managing director Peter Birbeck had become a "person with significant control".

The Whitney Woods acquisition shortly followed a February 2016 deal to buy the buildings and assets of local sheetfed operation Hudson & Pearson, after it had gone into administration in 2015.

Spokespeople at Leonard Curtis had not responded to request for comment at the time of publication, and Birbeck could not be reached for comment.

Calderprint's main Burnley phoneline is constantly engaged, while its Nelson number goes unanswered.