Bezier to shed jobs at Wakefield, Leeds and Poole printing plants

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-21459336

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Print firm Bezier has gone into administration with the loss of up to 400 jobs in West Yorkshire and Dorset.

The company said 254 people had been made redundant at its main Wakefield plant and smaller sites in Leeds and Poole amid mounting financial losses.

Administrators Deloitte said they had retained 148 employees "in the short term" to assist with ongoing trading.

Chief executive James Buckley said: "Unfortunately, the current situation has become unsustainable."

The company is set to close all three sites unless a buyer is found.

Joint administrator Matt Smith said: "The company has suffered a prolonged period of difficult trading which has resulted in it being unable to meet its financial obligations.

"Regrettably there is no other option but to announce these redundancies at this time."

'Sadly unavoidable'

Only last week Bezier lost a contract with high street retailer Boots, understood to be worth £10m a year, to print point-of-sale materials.

In 2011, it lost its then biggest customer, supermarket chain Asda, when that work was won by Delta Group.

In its last financial year to the end of April 2012, sales fell by 27% to £49.1m and the company made an £8m loss. The group has effectively halved in size since 2009, when turnover was almost £100m.

The company said: "The downturn has accelerated a move by clients to cut their print budgets and instead move more into digital and social media.

"Despite the board working very hard to stabilise the company, the closure of the Wakefield site has been sadly unavoidable."

Mr Buckley said: "In making this decision we had to take a view of what was best for the whole company going forward and deeply regret the staff redundancies.

"This decision has not been made lightly and comes despite a series of stringent organisational changes designed to reduce costs."

The company said it would now focus on developing its global brands division which is based in Soho, London.