The hardy foursome will take on the Samworth Brothers Charity Challenge, a gruelling nine mile run or walk followed by a frantic six mile canoe race and exhausting 27 mile bike ride around Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park in Scotland on June 8. General manager Mike Owens, group national accounts director Jonathan Bostock, group financial director, Colin Kunz and HR advisor Louise Webster are hoping to raise thousands for the Midlands Air Ambulance. The event, in its fourth year, is run by food manufacturer Samworth Brothers, a client of Benson Box head company Benson Group. Owens said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to support our much-needed air ambulance services as well as one of our most successful and important customers. We will be pushing the boundaries of our fitness and endurance, but also taking in some absolutely glorious Scottish scenery. He added: “The Air Ambulance performs a most essential role and deserves our wholehearted support.” Generous souls can sponsor the team by clicking here or by texting CARD98 £amount to 70070. Benson Group makes packaging for companies including Two Sisters Food Group, Greencore and Reckitt Benkiser across four sites and employs more than 900 people. It expects to achieve a turnover of £120m by the end of this financial year....

After investing in a Ricoh Pro C751 digital press in May last year Fine Print found its demand for lamination work increased as its short-run orders went up. Joint managing director Lee Tilley said: “We didn’t have a way of doing it ourselves so we were outsourcing it. Because that involves a minimum set-up charge, it wasn’t really cost-effective. We thought it would make sound business sense to bring it in-house.” The company chose a Foliant Taurus 530SF, supplied by Intelligent Finishing Systems, because of the level of automation and sheet size. After initially looking at an SRA3 size Tilley opted for B2 because it covered all bases and would avoid continuing to contract out. The 30mpm laminator will handle work from the Ricoh Pro C751 and the company’s more established B2 Komori Lithrone and Heidelberg Printmaster presses. It has a rising pile back separation stream feeder and a suction paper feed head. The new machine has reduced turnaround times from a minimum of 24 hours to same day. And Tilley says the company can take in more work as it is cost-effective to laminate short runs. He added: “It turns out we took the decision at just the right time because, since the investment, our suppliers have put their charges up. We had expected to achieve return on investment in 18 months but now I think we will be able to achieve that faster.” The company was established in 1987 by Lee’s father Jack and he now jointly runs it with his brother Scott....

Elmstok became Elmstok Limited during a busy weekend updating its systems. It also introduced a new order and account processing system that will enable quicker order processing and despatch. The Wisbech company sells cutting, binding, laminating and finishing equipment and has seven members of staff working with managing director Malcolm Starr and his son Robert Starr, who is now sales and marketing director. He said: “Being a limited company will make things more professional. We’ve been doing well over the past few years, we’ve taken big steps in going computerised and we’ve got a good sales force so this is a further improvement. “We want to grow even more and be number one.” Robert’s brother James was made company secretary but works elsewhere. Starr senior has grown the company from a small concern run from the family home, also in Wisbech, to a successful business with two warehouses covering 2,044sqm, a showroom and a retail website Print Finishing Superstore, designed by Robert. The company also extended its showroom last month. He said he made the decision to change the company status on the advice of his accountant who said it was better for tax reasons and because he has a commercial property business, Malcolm Starr Property Investment, an unlimited company. “The liability didn’t bother me but this keeps Elmstok separate. I am also taking a bit more of a back seat,” he added. “We have quite a lot of new accounts so we are doing something right. We have done very well in the recession and increased every year. We benefit from mostly having more stock than our competitors.” Elmstok sells direct to customers and wholesale to distributors and has customers in Australia, Dubai, Hong Kong the USA and across Europe. It sells across industry sectors, from the public sector to the financial and design industries....

Headed by sales director Mark Aubrey, the Nottingham-based operation will be manned by a team of three who will focus on growing sales through new business and developing existing UK customer relationships. Aubrey, who has previously worked with cartonboard specialists such as FC Cartons, HedsorBoard and Warren Board, said that the new operation would focus on developing “a closer relationship with the UK market”. He added: “We want to grow and to have more direct access to the carton conversion market in the UK on our coated folding box boards and also to look for new opportunities for our uncoated materials, particularly in the food market. “Our speciality is that we go up to some very thick calipers – around 650microns – which most box board mills stop at.” Pankaboard manufactures more than 100,000 tonnes of cartonboard and speciality board per year from its Eastern Finland facility in Pankakoski. The €100m turnover, 160-staff firm already exports the majority of its products, which are PEFC and FSC certified, to Europe, North America and Asia. Aubrey said he hoped the added focus through the new office would double the “moderate” tonnage currently exported to the UK. “This will give us more control on our presence and more intensity in the UK market,” he added....

The scheme, which was launched by the Bank of England (BoE) and the Treasury last summer, offers cheap credit to banks on the condition that they improve lending to the UK non-financial sector. Since its August 2012 launch the banks that have drawn money under the scheme have actually reduced net lending by £3.5bn (£1.1bn in Q3 2012 and £2.4bn in Q4 2012), while BoE deputy governor Paul Tucker admitted in February that FLS had not done enough to help businesses. Another criticism of FLS is that it has been used to prop-up mortgage lending, thereby sustaining the housing bubble that – due to record low interest rates – has yet to fully burst. However, in a welcome sign for UK print, it seems that FLS is finally having an impact where it was supposed to – amongst UK small business owners. Mark Nelson, director of Compass Business Finance, told PrintWeek that FLS-supported loans had started to become available from December. “We’ve lent about £1m since December; the money is available and you can get hold of it although it’s a bit of a tick-box exercise from a credit perspective and the kind of businesses that meet the requirements tend to be well-established rather than new or struggling,” he said. “But for those that qualify it will give you a saving of approximately 1%.” The FLS has a minimum borrowing limit of £25,000 and can be used for hire purchase but not lease agreements. Meanwhile, with the £350m fourth round of the Regional Growth Fund (RGF) due to become available this summer, Nelson said that the mid-market was also set to benefit from an influx of government funds. “We’re working with a couple of lenders who are drawing up their criteria at the moment – a lot of it is going to be to do with gearing and liquidity, so covering any new debt through your existing profits,” he added. “If you’re borrowing £1m to buy a new machine but that it’s replacing a machine with £500,000 outstanding debt on it then they will take into account that that £500,000 is coming off the balance sheet, but you still need to be able to cover the payments on the new debt from existing profits.” Nelson said in “marginal cases” a lender might take into consideration the expected increase in profitability from installing a more efficient machine, but stressed that he did not expect this to be the norm. “They want to lend prudently,” he added. Applications for RGF funds outstripped the £350m fourth-round pot by more than 400%, coming in at £1.9bn across the 309 bids. The top regional bidder – both in value and number of bids –...