Print Evolved has acquired Mayfield Press in Oxford, telling staff at the Print Evolved plant in north London about the move this morning.
The deal was closed late on Friday afternoon, ending nine months of discussions and negotiations. And this deal is likely to be followed by others. Managing director Spencer Slee says that talks which might lead to further acquisitions are underway.
For the moment, Print Evolved is buying a business with 85 staff and the production capacity that Print Evolved has lacked at its own premises in Hornsey. It has traditionally been a provider of technology to print, with arguably the first viable online purchasing application under the Ivor Solution name. However, with the rise of Covid and lockdown, business on the technology side slowed and Print Evolved found itself handling increasing volumes of commercial print work. Much of this was put out to the trade, says Slee.
“We had been looking for an acquisition for quite a while,” he says. “And as the amount commercial work we were handling took off during Covid, we found ourselves placing this out. While the situation has improved, it’s still quite a big step to place trust in the trade to support your activities when you are not in full control. Ownership of the production process is quite important for us.”
Now Print Evolved has additional cut sheet digital, sheetfed litho and large format digital print available as well as design services, mailing and data handling capability in Oxford. In return Mayfield gains a London base to improve service to clients in the City. Slee also expects to expand Mayfield’s online activities which have been under exploited to date. “There are customers that transact online, but a very very small percentage are using web to print,” he says. That will grow.”
Mayfield managing director Cameron Thomson confirms: “We are delighted to be joining the Print Evolved group in their plans for the future growth of the business. The addition of their specialist web-to-print solutions gives us so much more to offer customers and the introduction of their automated workflow systems will help us increase capacity and improve production efficiency. It also allows us to offer an economical same day service in the London area. It’s good for our customers, and for us too.”
The deal was brokered by Richmond Capital Partners, where CEO Paul Holohan says: “We do have a long and successful track record with Print Evolved and our knowledge of their business enabled us to introduce this potential acquisition to them. I’m sure this will be a fruitful liaison and that the group will go from strength to strength, adding further acquisitions to extend their offer to clients.”
That relationship had already enabled Print Evolved to acquire fellow London printer Edwin Buckley some time ago.
Both companies have lost staff during the lockdown period reducing the need for any redundancies. Nor will Print Evolved by moving from London. “We have been looking for quite a while, accelerating activity somewhat during Covid with the arrival of synergistic opportunities,” says Slee. More will surely follow.
