This article appeared on Business Desk.com on Monday 21st July 2008

Print Entrepreneurs Acquire Printing Firm in Seven-figure Deal

Left to right: Ian Wright (WPS), Mark Heyes (RBS), Emma Dutton (WPS), Ian Massey (Alliance and Leicester) and Richard Feltham (Garbutt and Elliott).

Two successful print entrepreneurs have bought a £4.5m turnover South Yorkshire printer Wright Printing Services (WPS) Ltd.

Ian Wright and Emma Dutton who previously led a successful MBO of printing firm Harlands of Hull, have been backed by funding from Alliance and Leicester and RBS Invoice Finance to buy the Rotherham firm.

The deal, structured by Richard Feltham of Garbutt & Elliott sees the duo acquire 87.5 per cent of the equity in the firm from the son and daughter of the company’s founders for an undisclosed sum.

Nigel Dace and Alison Murrie, whose parents Keith and Joyce Dace established the firm in 1970, have run the business since 1986. Over the past four decades the family has grown the business from a general printer into an award-winning trade only specialist.

Today the business is a highly efficient & technical operation with the latest web and sheet presses printing everything from continuous business forms to high quality colour brochures and booklets , the company also operates an array of finishing equipment, making Wright Printing one of the best equipped and versatile Trade houses in the country.

“WPS is a great business with even better potential,” said Ian Wright. “To be able to lead the firm forward, with the full support of the existing management is a really exciting opportunity for us, and we want to ensure the founders would be proud of what we achieve in the future,” he added.

“The company has an excellent senior management team, a great workforce and has made smart investment into the best possible equipment that has kept it at the leading edge of quality and manufacturing standards,” commented Emma Dutton.

WPS employs 42 full and part-time staff and occupies 26,000 sq ft premises on Hellaby Industrial Estate near Rotherham. 

The firm has built up a reputation for flexibility and quality, and boasts long established relationships with customers. 

Clients include many of the country’s leading printers, print management, and direct marketing organisations, and through these contracts WPS prints millions of items every day for high street stores, blue chip telecoms, financial institutions and insurance companies.

Richard Feltham of Garbutt & Elliott said: “The print sector as a whole has had a challenging time as rapidly changing new technology and the emergence of direct mail and marketing has totally changed the market. 

“WPS has been adept at keeping ahead of these trends and remaining successful when competitors have struggled, and the involvement of an experienced investment team coupled with a strong senior management team already at WPS opens an exciting new chapter for the business.”

Rachel Neems of Keeble Hawson provided legal advice to management and Mark Heyes of RBS Invoice Finance provided working capital facilities to the firm.