Review of 2021: May

Historic papermaker Zanders Papers went into liquidation
Historic papermaker Zanders Papers went into liquidation

Our annual roundup of all the big stories from around the UK printing industry in the past 12 months.

Five years after its ignominious collapse, the last remaining Polestar Group company, PUPL Realisation Ltd, was finally dissolved... Historic German papermaker Zanders Paper went into liquidation after attempts to save the business via a financial restructure proved unsuccessful... Cimpress, HP Indigo’s biggest customer worldwide, agreed a new multi-year deal for a raft of new digital presses, mainly the fifth-generation HP Indigo 100K B2-format model... US-headquartered Graphic Packaging bought AR Packaging, which was previously owned by private equity firm CVC... Mercia Image Print expanded its packaging capability to offer a fully bespoke packaging service, both locally and nationally, alongside its core print and design work... UPM agreed to sell its Shotton newsprint mill in North Wales to Eren Paper, a subsidiary of Turkish conglomerate Eren Holdings... Coveris continued its strategic expansion with the acquisition of 108-staff Norwich, Norfolk-based flexible packaging manufacturer Four04 Packaging, which specialises in packaging for fresh food and produce as well as bakery... Alfaplas was fined £150,000 and ordered to pay costs of £14,379 after an incident where an employee suffered asphyxiation after becoming entangled in a part of a press... An MBO took place at automated filling and packaging machinery manufacturer Advanced Dynamics... Co-founder Tim Holt became the sole owner of Plastic Card Services following an MBO. Holt set the business up together with colleague Rob Nicholls back in 1993...