The company has told its 190 employees that 85 roles are being made redundant. The firm had asked for employees interested in taking voluntary redundancy to respond by 9am yesterday (20 February), after which it planned to make compulsory redundancies.
Union Unite, which has 135 members at the Ashford magazine printer, held a mass meeting at the site yesterday. “We are offering people legal advice about the choices they can make in this situation,” Unite regional officer Tim Elliott told PrintWeek. “Some of our members have had a cloud over their heads for months and just want to get out, and some people have been there for 30 or 35 years and have been very emotionally affected by it all.
“We are assisting people with CVs and options of alternative work, and we have also got The Printing Charity involved,” he added.
Workers are also concerned about how the redundancies will be paid for, given the firm’s financial situation. The company is understood to be a number of months behind on the payment of union subs from employee wages, as well as pension contributions.
Headleys is currently trading under a Notice of Intention to Appoint Administrators, which gives the business protection from action by its creditors.
PrintWeek has learned that a new company, Headley 1881 Limited, has been registered at Companies House. The directors include current Headley Brothers managing director Simon Bingham, as well as operations director Andrew Owden and sales director Paul Palmer.
In addition the directors of Headley 1881 include Glen Robinson who is a partner at investment fund Valtegra, described as “Europe’s rescue fund”; Michael Richardson who is a member of Valtegra’s turnaround team; and Peter Schwabach, a partner at Cyrus Investment Management.
Schwabach holds all of the initial shareholding in the new company.
Sources close to the business believe that a sale deal is likely to be reached on or around the 28 February.
PrintWeek was unable to reach Bingham for comment.
The original Headley Brothers business was set up in 1881 by brothers Herbert and Burgess Headley, printing sundries for local businesses.
