At a creditors' meeting at the offices of Cardiff-based insolvency practitioner Doyle Davies last Tuesday (11 October), attendees were informed that a winding-up petition had been issued against the company by a creditor. The winding-up petition will be heard on 8 November 2016.

A liquidator’s report to the creditors, seen by PrintWeek, stated that Houseprint, trading as The Printing House, appointed Brendan Doyle of Doyle Davies as liquidator and “that it has been proved to the satisfaction of this meeting that the company cannot, by reason of its liabilities, continue its business, and that it is advisable to wind up the company, and accordingly that the company be wound up voluntarily.”

The meeting was chaired by Ms Clair Hunnisett, who is listed as Houseprint’s sole director on Companies House. It was also attended by Neill John, who also goes by the name Neill Stuart Malcolm John, an employee of the business who has been identified by several people as their main contact at Houseprint. 

John’s previous directorships include Britannia Press Ltd, Swane Ltd, Ambeck Corporation Ltd, Masterclass Associates Ltd and Dragon Press Ltd. Hunnisett was also a director of Ambeck Corporation and all five companies are now either dissolved or in liquidation.

The creditors’ meeting was initially due to be held at the offices of Swansea-based Stones & Co in late August but Stones withdrew its involvement at short notice and Doyle Davies took up the case. 

The director’s report to creditors, also seen by PrintWeek, claimed that Houseprint was owed £500,000 comprising of non-payment of goods by customers and breaches of their terms and conditions of trading by their suppliers. 

It said Houseprint had suffered following the fall in the pound’s value against the euro after the Brexit vote in the “notoriously quiet” summer for the UK printing industry.

According to Houseprint’s statement of affairs, the business has assets of £606,257, including a £585,385 debtor book and £20,872 related to fixtures, fittings and equipment.

In the period from 1 June 2015 to cessation of acitivies, the business had racked up losses totalling £376,088.

It has 84 creditors, of which North London-based Interpress Co. Ltd is owed the most (£24,460). Czech book production specialist PB Tisk is owed £17,491 and Lancing, West Sussex-based Claren Print is owed £12,024.

Hunnisett is also the sole director of a newly active business, UK Print Ltd, which is now operating from the same registered office – 3rd Floor 14 Hanover Street, London W1S 1YH – as used by Houseprint.

The description of UK Print Ltd’s product offering of printed books, catalogues and magazines is identical to that used by Houseprint trading as The Printing House.

Creditors also include Darshan Sanghrajka, founder and chief executive of social change agency Super Being Labs, who ordered a print run of 5,000 books from Houseprint earlier this year but never received them nor had his deposit of around £3,500 returned.

Sanghrajka said: "I feel completely disappointed. This is a clear case of someone doing something wrong and yet we feel that we really aren’t getting justice at all. We have put a lot of effort in trying to retrieve our money and we are not going to get it back, and he'll just do this to someone else.

"It's sad to see the amount of creditors that have been left without proper answers. A real shame."

One UK Print customer told PrintWeek that he had placed an order with the newly formed company at the end of August and that he had initially been in daily contact with a man named Stuart. The customer was given reasons for delay by Stuart and he eventually became uncontactable.

This issue is similar to those experienced by the many Houseprint customers that have approached PrintWeek over the past few weeks.

Houseprint Ltd trading as The Printing House is entirely unconnected with Crewe-based The Printing House Ltd.