The three affected branches are Birmingham, Leicester and Nottingham. As part of the restructure, PaperlinX would create a Midlands ‘branch’ at its Moulton Park head office in Northampton. Affected staff were informed last Friday. A collective consultation across the three sites will begin this week with a total of around 80 roles expected to be cut across them and also the Delivery Co logistics arm. An undisclosed number of staff will be offered roles at Moulton Park. According to the company, the restructure of its Midlands operations will have no impact on customers and it will “further improve efficiencies and facilitate a high level of customer service”. Meanwhile, Buxton’s enlarged role means he will take on responsibility for Narrow Format Reels, Graphic & Carton board, Graphical Consumables, WebCo, Precision Publishing, Resellers and Brightstream. This will be in addition to heading up Paperlinx’s UK commercial print operation, which includes the three merchanting brands recently united under the parent brand: Robert Horne, Howard Smith and Paper Co. Buxton will be supported by the operations’ existing management teams, headed up by David Darwood (Precision Publishing), Steve Webb (narrow format reels and graphic and cartonboard), Robin Watkinson (WebCo) and Mandy Gallego (commercial print sales and operations). Buxton will report to Paperlinx UK managing director Phil Carr. “This new structure forms a key part of our mission to ensure a customer-centric business model,” said Buxton....

The three affected branches are Birmingham, Leicester and Nottingham. As part of the restructure, PaperlinX would create a Midlands ‘branch’ at its Moulton Park head office in Northampton. Affected staff were informed last Friday. A collective consultation across the three sites will begin this week with a total of around 80 roles expected to be cut across them and also the Delivery Co logistics arm. An undisclosed number of staff will be offered roles at Moulton Park. According to the company, the restructure of its Midlands operations will have no impact on customers and it will “further improve efficiencies and facilitate a high level of customer service”. Meanwhile, Buxton’s enlarged role means he will take on responsibility for Narrow Format Reels, Graphic & Carton board, Graphical Consumables, WebCo, Precision Publishing, Resellers and Brightstream. This will be in addition to heading up Paperlinx’s UK commercial print operation, which includes the three merchanting brands recently united under the parent brand: Robert Horne, Howard Smith and Paper Co. Buxton will be supported by the operations’ existing management teams, headed up by David Darwood (Precision Publishing), Steve Webb (narrow format reels and graphic and cartonboard), Robin Watkinson (WebCo) and Mandy Gallego (commercial print sales and operations). Buxton will report to Paperlinx UK managing director Phil Carr. “This new structure forms a key part of our mission to ensure a customer-centric business model,” said Buxton....

The group was put into administration in November 2012 ahead of the pre-pack sale to Sun European Partners that resulted in BGP and Stones the Printers becoming part of Polestar. Unsecured creditors were owed more than £72m, and the latest report from joint administrators Allan Graham and David Standish at KPMG details an additional £36.3m claim from the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) against the group’s pension scheme liability. This is a more than three-fold increase on the liability shown in Goodhead’s last accounts, where the figure stated was £10.3m. The administrators said they were “in the process of reviewing this claim”. The most recent actuarial valuation of the Goodhead pension scheme was carried out in June 2009, and it was supposed to be subject to this process every three years. Goodhead’s accounts stated that an update to take into account the requirements of financial reporting standard FRS17 took place in May 2012. If the claim stands the Goodhead Group pension will be one of the largest print-related schemes to enter the PPF. Polestar’s own scheme also ended up there after it was hived-off from the group and then offloaded as part of Sun’s pre-pack takeover deal to buy Polestar in 2011. It had a shortfall of £103m. Goodhead’s trade creditors including paper and ink companies were owed more than £9m. The only money available to them is a share of £195,000 for creditors of BGP, and £48,000 for creditors of Stones the Printers. There is no money available for unsecured creditors of Goodhead Group. The bill from KPMG for the administration costs thus far is more than £250,000....

The Graphic, Print & Media Alliance (GPMA) is made up of seven founding members; Fespa UK, the British Association for Print & Communciation (BAPC), British Coatings Federation (BCF), Independent Print Industries Association (IPIA), Picon, the Process & Packaging Machinery Association (PPMA), and the Rubicon network. The BPIF is not currently signed up to the GPMA, but the federation’s chief executive Kathy Woodward said representatives would attend GPMA committee meetings and offer support where they could. However, she added that for the time being the BPIF would continue to lobby independently on the industry’s behalf. “We already have a great lobbying infrastructure at the BPIF and that will continue. We already sit on a CBI board and the Government’s Associate Parliamentary Manufacturing Group for example,” said Woodward. However, she added that the BPIF had not ruled out the possibility of joining the GPMA at a future date. The GPMA is also currently in talks with other bodies and hopes to soon consist of 15 or more member organisations. The first aim of the pan-industry consortium is to pull together detailed statistics on the industry, including information on average turnovers, number of employees and the value the sectors adds to the UK economy. “Our long term objective is to raise the performance of the sector and we can’t do that until we know what we’re dealing with, through credible numbers,” said Peter Morris, chairman of GPMA and of Picon. GPMA activities will include lobbying, including government lobbying and raising awareness of the threats of electronic media, the commoditisation of print, and an ageing workforce profile, and implementation of training infrastructures. Tim Webb, executive director at Picon, said: “There are areas where we have good statistics and strong training infrastructures, but others where it’s poor. We don’t have any training schemes in Picon’s membership for example.” He added: “Up until this point there’s been no formal way of industry trade associations talking. There are no cross-industry conversations and no cross-industry policies and we need to work to provide that.”...

The Graphic, Print & Media Alliance (GPMA) is made up of seven founding members; Fespa UK, the British Association for Print & Communciation (BAPC), British Coatings Federation (BCF), Independent Print Industries Association (IPIA), Picon, the Process & Packaging Machinery Association (PPMA), and the Rubicon network. The BPIF is not currently signed up to the GPMA, but the federation’s chief executive Kathy Woodward said representatives would attend GPMA committee meetings and offer support where they could. However, she added that for the time being the BPIF would continue to lobby independently on the industry’s behalf. “We already have a great lobbying infrastructure at the BPIF and that will continue. We already sit on a CBI board and the Government’s Associate Parliamentary Manufacturing Group for example,” said Woodward. However, she added that the BPIF had not ruled out the possibility of joining the GPMA at a future date. The GPMA is also currently in talks with other bodies and hopes to soon consist of 15 or more member organisations. The first aim of the pan-industry consortium is to pull together detailed statistics on the industry, including information on average turnovers, number of employees and the value the sectors adds to the UK economy. “Our long term objective is to raise the performance of the sector and we can’t do that until we know what we’re dealing with, through credible numbers,” said Peter Morris, chairman of GPMA and of Picon. GPMA activities will include lobbying, including government lobbying and raising awareness of the threats of electronic media, the commoditisation of print, and an ageing workforce profile, and implementation of training infrastructures. Tim Webb, executive director at Picon, said: “There are areas where we have good statistics and strong training infrastructures, but others where it’s poor. We don’t have any training schemes in Picon’s membership for example.” He added: “Up until this point there’s been no formal way of industry trade associations talking. There are no cross-industry conversations and no cross-industry policies and we need to work to provide that.”...