Thomas Potts has doubled its turnover with the 1.6m acquisition of print management company CCS from its administrator.


CCS is based in Cardiff and Nottingham and has sales of 19m. It buys and sells marketing materials, display graphics, business forms and security products. The firm went into administration last Wednesday (17 January), and Thomas Potts acquired certain of its assets the following day. Baker Tilly in Birmingham is handling the administration.


The acquired business will operate as CCS Potts. Its subsidiary, Nisar - the UK distributor of Sinar listing and copier papers - was not part of the deal.


Thomas Potts group commercial director Mark Scanlon said the buy offered the group a "superb oppor-tunity" to consolidate its medium-sized print management business, Eurographics, and any others it might buy, under an umbrella firm like CCS.


"You don't do a deal like this overnight, and we had been talking to CCS for a while. When the chance came along to complete the deal, we jumped at it," he said. "The creditors of CCS are important to us and CCS Potts wants to build a relationship with them."


Thomas Potts will retain the existing management, including managing director Ian Hall, along with all 120 staff based in five UK regional offices. Hall and senior colleagues will be given 20% of CCS Potts, which may be converted into shares in later years.


"For some time now we have been seeking to
complement our manufacturing operations by moving into print-related outsourcing services," said Thomas Potts chairman Stephen Hargrave.


Potts' first foray into print management came at the beginning of last year when it bought Eurographics.


Story by Andy Scott