Kentmere Cartons has been formed to take on the business of Kentmere Ltd, allowing four of its shareholders to retire.
The new company was formed on 30 December last year and took control of Kentmere last month. Nicholas Bramfit continues as managing director with Shaun Mulvaney, remaining on the board. The board is completed by Nicola Walsh and John Gillibrand, a partner at RSM in Manchester where he “specialises in advising private shareholders and private equity on how they can realise value in their business, make acquisitions or raise capital for growth”.
The company is well invested and profitable, increasing sales in 2019, its last reported year of trading, by 12.8% and profits by 7.3%. Sales for that year were £9.5 million. At that point shareholders funds stood at almost £6.3 million with assets exceeding liabilities to the extent of £3.2 million.
The company is located in a former mill on the edge of the Lake District where it runs two six-colour Roland 700 presses, the latest installed in 2009, along with Bobst platens and folder gluers. The company, which dates back to a photographic papers business, started in 1906. The cartons side started to package its own products. The photo papers side was sold off in the latter years of the last century.
Now this deal allows four shareholders, the youngest of whom was born in 1952, to realise the value of their shares. Mulvaney, himself 69, remains a director of Kentmere Cartons and of Kentmere Ltd.
The business work for a wide spread of customers, from retailers through food and confectionery, healthcare and household products, “from major retailers through to start up businesses” according to the company’s website. It has BRC Grade A accreditation.
As well as printing and converting with additional finishing processes in-house, Kentmere offers both plan prototypes and full colour prototypes to test designs and runnability. These are cut out on a Zund cutting table.
The full extent of the pandemic and lockdowns on the business remain to be recorded, though by June last year when the 2019 reports were filed, Bramfit was able to state: “The initial impact of the pandemic has seen an increase in turnover reflecting a higher level of demand than would normally be experienced at this time of year.”
