Major creditor of publisher buys firm out of administration

ONE of the North West’s largest independently owned publishing companies Excel Publishing has been bought out of administration by one its biggest creditors – Buxton Press.

Excel was continuing to trade while a buyer was sought by administrator Leonard Curtis.

Buxton backed a buy-out by Excel co-founder Pat Rafter four years ago.
A spokesperson for Buxton Press told Prolific North it had bought Excel but would not provide further details.

How many of Excel’s titles or their 60 staff Buxton Press will be kept – nor whether the firm’s Manchester office will be retained – is unknown.

Sheet-feed printing company Buxton Press – a 70-year-old family business based in the Derbyshire town –  has more than 630 titles, printing upwards of 54 million magazines each year,  and its managing director is Kirk Galloway (above).

In September 2015, the company had sales of  about £20m and pre-tax profit of  about £2.5m.

Excel Publishing laucnhed in 1991 and worked across print, digital and events. Its portfolio covered an array of clients and sectors, from British Cycling to surgery to law.

It was once the largest contract publisher of Chamber of Commerce magazines in the UK.