172 jobs saved at printing business following administration

ADMINISTRATORS at PwC have been able to sell the Wakefield operations of printers Polestar, saving 172 jobs. Polestar re-entered administration in April, just weeks after it was sold in a pre-pack deal and a £65m package was brought to the table to save it.

It blamed the loss of a major customer, DMG Media, publishers of the Daily Mail, which gave the company 90 days’ notice.

Since their appointment on 25 April, administrators at PwC have been working to sell off parts of the business, and have been able to sell the Wakefield-based Chantry operations, with 172 jobs protected.

According to Print Week, the new terms discussed last week included a 16% pay cut for print workers and a 5% pay cut for bindery workers, together with a flexible shift pattern in the bindery.

Zelf Hussain, joint administrator and partner at PwC said:”We are pleased to have secured a sale of the Chantry site that not only protects the employees at the site but secures value for creditors.

“We have been focused on doing all we can to protect as much of the business as possible, which depended on the ongoing support of employees, Unions, suppliers and a number of key customers and we thank them all for that.

“We still have significant interest in the company’s’ operations at Bicester and are hopeful of securing a going concern sale of that business.”