The acquisition of Whitney Woods, for an undisclosed sum, was completed in early August and will enable Calderprint to offer its trade customers a range of pop-up and interactive B2B promotional products such as calendars, phone holders, POS and money boxes.
Whitney Woods, which had a turnover of around £1.25m, has now relocated five miles north from Rossendale in Lancashire to Calderprint’s 2,323sqm headquarters in Dunnockshaw. All 20 of the firm’s staff have made the move, increasing Calderprint’s total headcount to 140.
The Dunnockshaw premises was acquired by Calderprint upon the completion of its £932,000 deal to buy the buildings and assets of Hudson & Pearson in February this year.
Calderprint owner and managing director Peter Birbeck worked with business advisory and accountancy firm Pierce Group for more than four months to acquire a controlling interest in Whitney Woods from its owner and managing director Chris Woods.
Woods, who founded Whitney Woods in 1992 with late business partner Paul Whitney, retains a minority stake in the firm and is staying on as a director.
Birbeck said: “We used to be a major customer of Whitney Woods and gave them a lot of work when they first set up, but we drifted in different directions and it was only back in February when we acquired Hudson & Pearson that we saw Whitney Woods was one of their clients.
“As well as doing hand-finished work they do specialised pop-up products, which Hudson & Pearson printed on for them. We were keen to secure the business, I’ve known Chris Woods for many years and there was definitely a fit there that we felt we could incorporate into our offering.
“We can now offer the Whitney Woods portfolio to our trade clients who can hopefully pass them on to their numerous blue-chip end users.”
Birbeck added Whitney Woods’ name and branding will be retained, due to its strong reputation in the trade.
Woods said: “Becoming part of the Calderprint Group is fantastic for Whitney Woods. It will open up exciting new opportunities for our unique product range.”
Calderprint operates more than 20 presses across its five sites, including an eight-colour B1 Manroland 708, a six-colour B1 Manroland 606 and a six-colour B2 Manroland 306, which it acquired as part of the Hudson & Pearson deal, as well as machinery from Heidelberg, Edelmann, Shinohara, SanXin, Konica Minolta and Ricoh.
