Clarke joins MBA Group

Danny Clarke has returned to his printing industry roots with a new role at MBA Group.

Clarke was managing director at Howard Hunt Group, but resigned as a director of that business in March, before the business went into administration in May.

He took some time off over the summer before doing some consultancy for London-headquartered MBA, which has now become an official position. Clarke began his industry career at MBA in 1998 and said he was excited about the new opportunity.

“It’s a newly created role as director and part of the executive team,” Clarke explained.

“The business is very ambitious with big growth plans. MBA also has a very strong financial footing which is an advantage in this market.”

Clarke said that MBA was among a number of companies benefiting from the capacity reduction after the closure of the Howard Hunt print site.

“We are incredibly busy at the moment. There is no Howard Hunt which would be full to capacity now. There’s the General Election impact plus a lot of retail activity around Black Friday and Christmas,” he added.

MBA acquired Inc Direct earlier this year. The group has also set up a new call centre operation, DoTs, at its Warrington facility, with Peter Lynch recruited from outsourcer Aegis to head that up.

“The idea is to offer a complete closed loop, from outbound communications and also inbound and follow-up calls if needed,” Clarke explained.

The overall business is targeting a 25% increase in sales to £60m on the back of the expansion. The group employs around 350 people.

Chairman Bachar Aintaoui said: “After 35 years in business I am even more passionate today about delivering the right service to our customers. Danny is an excellent addition to our executive team and it’s good to have him back in the fold.”