Is BGP turning into some sort of Manchester City of the printing industry? As we know, it is bankrolled by a very wealthy individual, although Sir John Madejski's fortune of circa £250m is somewhat dwarfed by the mega-mega-millions of Sheikh Mansour.
The chaps at Bicester have been equally busy on the transfer market these past few months. BGP's sales team has been swelled by a number of notable new additions, the most high profile of which joined this week in the shape of Ross Borton, formerly of Prinovis and Southernprint, and prior to that on the client-side at NatMags. Borton's arrival and his track record in the publishing industry could be viewed as a strategic move to boost BGP's standing among the big magazine publishers - let us not forget IPC's ongoing review of some £10m of Southbank titles, as the resulting decisions could have a significant effect on the future shape of UK web offset printing.
Signing Borton is perhaps the icing on the sales cake. Other recent recruits include Adrian Clark and Peter Helfrich, who joined from Southernprint; Jim Billington, who arrived via Trader Media Print Group; and Phil Glossop from Woodford Litho.
Speculation, wild rumours, and envious comments have abounded about the pay and commission packages supposedly attached to these sales titans. While not on the Robinho scale of £160k a week, one could make a stab at an additional overhead not unadjacent to £500k, at the least. It would be interesting to compare the sales personnel costs of £46m turnover Goodhead Group (which includes BGP and Stones) with, say, that of Walstead's print interests, or St Ives' web division. But as someone pointed out to me earlier, "it's naff all compared to the cost of standing 72pp presses".
Whether this is all part of a Madejski-backed master plan to push BGP into print's Premier League, or a last desperate roll of the dice remains to be seen. Rather more positive noises have been emanating from Bicester, and its clients, of late. As has been stated before, the firm has some very good people and an abundance of new kit, so with the right management and tactics it could be among the industry's winners.
Madejski's continued fiscal indulgence/patience will of course be crucial to this, and an upcoming BBC4 programme will be required viewing for anyone with an interest in the inner workings of his mind. Rich Man, Poor Man airs on 25 August, "He has fingers in eighteen pies and they are all causing him worry..." says the blurb for the documentary. Where will BGP feature in this echelon of woe? We know Madejski is a man who is well acquainted with the highs and lows of the beautiful game, what remains to be seen is whether his print odyssey will be akin to that of a Jack Walker, or a Mike Ashley.
