Paperlinx commercial print director steps down

Malcolm Lane-Ley is to leave Paperlinx today (31 July) after 27 years in the paper industry.

Lane-Ley has been managing director of Paperlinx's commercial print division across Howard Smith Paper Group, The Paper Company and Robert Horne Group since August 2004.

He previously served as managing director of Mason's Paper and southern region director of The Paper Company.

Paperlinx said that Lane-Ley was leaving to pursue a career outside of the paper industry; it is not yet known who will take over the role and Lane-Ley declined to comment on his departure.

Paperlinx chief executive Toby Marchant is also ending his two-year service as chief executive today as a result of a joint decision with the board of Paperlinx that will see Marchant receive a termination payment of 12 months' salary.

Paperlinx's UK restructure, which was announced earlier this month along with Marchant's planned departure, has so far left three Howard Smith Paper Group staff potentially unemployed.

The selection process  for Howard Smith’s Hawley branch relocation to Mandela Way, London was concluded on Friday 27 July. Three employees from Howard Smith’s internal sales team have been told that their roles will no longer be active at the London branch.

Paperlinx said it was seeking to redeploy two of the staff members elsewhere in the company while a had third opted for voluntary redundancy.

The timescale of the Hawley branch’s transition to Mandela Way is not yet known, although Paperlinx confirmed that it is likely to take place in early autumn.

Paperlinx announced that it was to relocate and close a number of its UK offices at the end of June to return to profitable trading.

At the time of the restructure announcement, Paperlinx executive vice president Dave Allen said that the restructure would inevitably have repercussions for staff but anticipated that "only 2% of the workforce would be affected".