NEWS FLASH! Pulse Administration

Posted on 30 May 2017

NEWS FLASH!

Pulse Administration; the shock waves continue

If we had a Richter scale for seismic shocks for the UK print converter industry, the Pulse administration would be up there at around 8 as the full impact of the disaster are only just being felt.

The administrators (KPMG) in their inimitable fashion started running the business down virtually from the start by making redundancies and seeking “pro-forma” payments from customers the results after 6 weeks of trauma were therefore forecastable.

Rumour has it that

• Virtually all the major customers have taken their work elsewhere
• As a consequence redundancies have continued with only a skeleton staff left at the main two plants
• The business cannot now be sold as a “going concern” and thus there will be asset sales
• A Turkish print converter is negotiating for the Bury site and retention of some assets
• An existing foil converter is negotiating for the assets of the Saffron Walden site
• The Pulse pension fund has entered the PPS

The consequence of all this financial manoeuvring has been to effectively put around £40-£50 million of print work in to the market. Whilst this has been shared between the UK and overseas a major beneficiary has been Amcor (who were in the process of making redundancies) who are now offering lead times of up to 10 weeks or more for print delivery.

Similarly lead times from other print companies who have taken part of the Pulse print portfolio have in some cases doubled in the last 4 weeks. Suffice to say if anyone reading these jottings requires printed film urgently we can accommodate them here at National Flexible.

We have long believed the entry of a Turkish and/or Indian print converter into the UK was inevitable. However, we did not anticipate it occurring in this way. Pulse in its previous existence as Printpack was the second largest print converter in the UK. Its demise has been a personal tragedy for many long serving individuals and whilst “creative destruction” is a key part of the capitalist system it is sad to see it manifested in our industry.

Any thoughts you may have on any of the issues raised would be welcome and why not join me on LinkedIn to share your views.

Many Thanks

Barry Twigg