A1 Trade Print Services sold
Birmingham-based A1 Trade Print Services has been bought for an undisclosed sum, Insider has learnt.
Terms of the deal have not been disclosed but A1 Trade Print Services has a turnover of £6m and employs 60 staff at its Birmingham site. It has been bought by MCAARP Holdings, which owns South West-based Integrity Print.
A1 is a supplier of security print and integrated cards and labels, operating as a trade-only business. It shares a number of the same customers and has similar markets to Integrity Print, which has a turnover of £61m and employs 400 staff.
MCAARP's chief executive Mark Cornford told Insider the acquisition was "a critical part of our strategy to strengthen our position in the market, broaden our overall service offering and ensure that the long-term prospects for our business remain positive in difficult economic circumstances".
A1 Trade Print's existing managing director, Jim Richardson, will run the business, reporting to Cornford. Mark Jones, former chief executive of A1 Trade Print, will leave the company to pursue other business interests.
Both Cornford and Richardson believe that there are significant synergies between Integrity and A1 that will bring benefits.
The deal has been supported by Investec Bank, which provided the finance for the original management buyout of Integrity Print in 2008, led by Cornford.
It is just the latest move by Integrity's management to grow and diversify the business. Since the MBO more than three years ago, Integrity has acquired label business Topflite, and Mooreforms in South Wales, which is a small company serving business-forms markets that are similar to Integrity's core trade.
In 2008 Integrity's turnover stood at about £50m, but with the latest deal the newly enlarged business has turnover of about £68m.
