Based in Trafford Park, Manchester Printers completed its purchase of BBF on 14 December after being approached last month by then-owner Melissa Chaaya.

Chaaya inherited the business from her father-in-law and company founder David Mortlock when he passed away in late 2017 and spent the subsequent months looking for a buyer before landing on Manchester Printers as the best fit.

While Chaaya has now exited the business, all four BBF employees have stayed onboard and will continue to work at its Flintshire base.

Manchester Printers managing director Gavin Page said: “We were approached in the middle of last year and when we sat down with them it was clear this would be a perfect fit – they are a very clean company with a great client base.

“As a print management company with no onsite manufacturing, they will be able to make use of our wide range of print equipment for their B2B customers. From our perspective, the acquisition of their premises gives us a presence in the North West and North Wales.

“Our interlocking services open up new possibilities for both companies and for our client bases, as well as granting the ability to invest in new equipment, which has already begun.”

Page, who is now managing director of both Manchester Printers and BBF, will split his time between the two premises as they are approximately 50 minutes drive apart. BBF will retain its brand identity and the majority of its jobs will be processed by its new parent company, with a portion still placed elsewhere.

The company now has a turnover of £2.3m – £1m from BBF and £1.3m from Manchester Printers –  and undergone an investment drive that will see the introduction of a new Heidelberg Versafire EP digital production system, due to arrive next month.

Other incoming investments include an upgrade across both firms’ IT systems and the installation of Enfocus Switch automation software.

In the past three months, Manchester Printers has also taken on a B2 guillotine from Ideal, a Duplo DBM 150 bookletmaker and a Vivid Matrix Omni-Flow deep-pile feeder to serve its Matrix MX-370 laminator. The digital and wide-format print output on its 280sqm base includes equipment from Konica Minolta and Mimaki.

Manchester Printers employs 14 members of staff, with BBF bringing the headcount up to 18. According to Page, the firm’s goal is to reach a turnover of £5m by 2022.