Case Study – Printing Company

Thu 09 Jun 2016

Mazars LLP were instructed to assist a printing company in Lincolnshire with insolvency advice in July 2015. The company was part of a wider group, with cross-guarantees across the group as a whole, with certain businesses within the group being more profitable than others.

The biggest company in the group produced tickets for various customers, with the main source of income coming from the Association of Train Operating Companies (“ATOC”) as the company produced all of the tickets for Network Rail. By the time Mazars had been instructed, stock levels for tickets were already low and the company had had to approach ATOC to help them fund the production of the tickets. The second business was also involved in printing, however this business was not deemed to be viable in the long term.

Following discussions with the directors, it was resolved that the best option would be to attempt to achieve a sale as a going concern for the main company, with the option of the other businesses as a bolt on. An interested party came forward and, subject to some protracted negotiations, a sale of the business was achieved, which secured around 100 jobs and which also dealt with the assets in the other main business and gave an option to deal with the main company’s interest in its foreign subsidiaries in due course.