More jobs go at Paperlinx UK

Administrators at Deloitte have laid off a further 70 employees at the stricken Paperlinx UK operations.

PrintWeek has learned that the additional redundancies have affected staff at the firm’s Moulton Park HQ and Brackmills facilities in Northampton, and its Manchester site.

Deloitte initially made 700 redundancies when the firm was appointed on 1 April.

The latest round of cuts mean around 260 staff remain at the Paperlinx businesses that are in administration.

One of the company’s remaining employees said that they had been told there is no interest from potential purchasers in the Paperlinx operations that served the commercial print market, but that some of its specialist operations could still be sold although any deal(s) would need to be concluded swiftly to be viable.

PrintWeek understands that a number of approaches have been made for specific parts of the business, and the administrators remain hopeful of concluding one or more transactions.

The Crowdfunder initiative ‘Buyback Paperlinx UK’ has reached £67,744 of its £500,000 target. The employee behind it said it had gained some private equity interest and was a potential purchaser of the Paperlinx VTS business, which supplied the large-format sector.

There has been speculation about two possible bids for VTS, but more than a fortnight on from the administrators’ appointment there remains nothing concrete in terms of bids for any of the up-for-sale Paperlinx operations.

One seasoned paper industry executive said: “It’s incredible when you think about it. This was the UK’s largest merchant with something like a 40% market share, yet even when it’s in receivership people are not interested in it.”