Job cuts at printing business
ADMINISTRATORS last week announced that 214 jobs would be lost at Polestar UK,
The business, which re-entered administration at the end of April. Has sites in Sheffield and Wakefield, as well as Bicester, Dunstable, Exeter, Banbury and Nottinghamshire.
Polestar UK Print Ltd, which was set up with the backing of Proventus Capital Partners, acquired the original Polestar business in March in a £65m deal safeguarding nearly 2,000 jobs.
The new company filed for administration again after its biggest customer DMG Media, which publishes the Daily Mail, gave it 90 days’ notice.
Administrators at PwC were appointed on 25 April 2016.
The administrators have confirmed that all 214 staff affected will be paid .
Zelf Hussain, joint administrator and PwC partner, said: “It is with real regret that we have made these decisions, but this was the inevitable consequence of the Companies losing key customers.
“We still believe that there is a strong underlying business within the Companies and we are focused on doing all we can to preserve value and maintain the business while we look to achieve a sale.
“We have had a large amount of interest from potential buyers and ask that suppliers and customers work with us to try to deliver a lasting solution for the business.”The Polestar Group was established in 1998 and produces more than 50m products a week for newspaper supplements, magazines, retail and journals and reference publications.
Employing a direct workforce of more than 1,500, as well as 150 outsourced staff and 350 agency contractors, the group had a turnover of approximately £200m.
