12 months in print

Review of 2023: June

A huge fire broke out at Paragon’s inbound mail site in Leicester

Our annual round-up of all the big news stories from the past 12 months – June.

PFI Group failed to make the first big payment related to its acquisition of Grafenia’s print operations last year. Rymack Sign Solutions, which trades as PFI Group, acquired the Works Manchester business in 2022... Mediashore Ltd, which traded as ABC Imaging, was expected to go into liquidation following a meeting of creditors... Walstead Group made its first buy in Germany with the acquisition of GD Gotha Druck und Verpackung out of insolvency... Double Printweek Award winner Precision Card Services was lauded as one of the best places to work in the UK by The Sunday Times... Mars Wrigley introduced paper-based packaging in a limited trial for its classic Mars bar, which resulted in a significant reduction in the amount of plastic used for each bar... Industrial printer Bex Design & Print moved to a four-day working week with the aim to reduce its environmental impact... Jamil Ahmed Mukadam, the sole director of Leicester-based Mooky’s Print and Design Ltd, was handed an 11 year directorship ban for submitting false VAT returns... A ‘for sale’ sign was hoisted at the Prinovis UK site in Liverpool, as the gravure printer prepared to cease production... Integrated communications provider Adare SEC was one of several major UK businesses to fall victim to the MOVEit’ cyber attack, alongside Ofcom, the BBC, British Airways and Aer Lingus... A huge fire broke out at Paragon’s inbound mail site in Leicester on 15 June, destroying much of the facility and generating a plume of smoke visible for miles... Irish packaging company Zeus Group continued its acquisitive streak with the purchase of Northern Irish print and packaging business James Hamilton Group. Later in the month it also bought Italian paper and board convertor Cima Paper... A green packaging business, Biopax, owned by former Delta Print and Packaging chairman Terry Cross, was set to create 169 jobs... The delayed ballot on pay and conditions at Royal Mail opened almost a month after it was suspended due to a “culture of imposition” at the postal operator... Vape liquid and sports supplements manufacturer VN Labs Ltd in Manchester was handed a six-figure fine after a worker lost three digits because of a blister packaging machine that had inadequate guarding. The incident occurred on 22 October 2020... Three men convicted of a conspiracy to supply over £12m of counterfeit banknotes were ordered to give up the real money they earned from their crimes... ADM Group strengthened its capabilities “across both shopper marketing and digital solutions” with the acquisition of DASS and its proprietary MarTech platform, FLOW... Antalis UKI appointed Nicholas Thompson as its new managing director prior to David Hunter’s retirement in July 2023... Instantprint completed the installation of a new solar array equivalent to 72 UK households’ energy needs at its Rotherham factory.