According to various sources today, Woodford Litho has officially gone into administration with Steven Law of Baker Tilly appointed as the company’s administrator, on the instructions of chairman Simon Fox.
Fox announced that he was planning an orderly administration process at the beginning of the month, 50-employee firm ceased printing last week. A 30-day consultation period with the company’s employees was completed on the 3rd of July.
Woodford Litho had turnover of around £8m in its most recent financial year, significantly down from three years ago where upon it had seen sales of some £13.2m of the printing of catalogues, magazines and commercial web offset print from its 7,450sqm factory.
Ten years ago it installed a KBA Compacta C618 48pp web press, and it also has two older G14 web presses, a 14-station Kolbus perfect binder, and stitching facilities.
“The administration process has been very well handled, and I now fully expect Sanderson Weatherall to be appointed to auction off all the equipment for the benefit of creditors,” Fox stated.
He said that three companies had contacted him about potentially leasing the Witham web offset site and its equipment, but none of the approaches had come to fruition. Fox also said there was interest in the firm’s newest web press, a 10-year-old 48pp KBA Compacta C618, “from inside and outside the European Union”.
All the equipment is likely to be sold off by the year-end at which point the factory will be re-let. Fox has received a number of messages of support since news of the impending closure became public. “I have had some very kind comments from people in the industry, and I am extremely grateful for all the messages,” he added.
With many administrations in the Publication Printing / Offset sector experienced recently and more expected with the trend in migration from print to digital media in the sector expected to continue it means some £35m of web offset capacity has been removed from the UK market alone in just a matter of months, following the failure of Artisan Press in May and the Enfield-based The Magazine Printing Company (MPC) being sold in a pre-pack administration to former owner Anthony Stokes in March.
