Friary closure planned as MPI slates move to Butler & Tanner

Media & Print Investments (MPI) is planning to close The Friary Press and move its staff and operations into Butler & Tanner's factory.

A 30-day consultation period began today (1 November) over the proposals, under which the business would be relocated to the book printer's factory in Frome, Somerset during the Christmas break.

In a statement, MPI chairman Mike Dolan said that no redundancies were planned and that all staff from Dorchester, Dorset-based Friary Press would be offered jobs at the Frome site, which MPI acquired in August.

He said: "Our Dorchester site has served The Friary Press well, but there is no room to expand there and as a business, we must adapt to changing circumstances and customer requirements or suffer the inevitable consequences of inaction."

Under the proposal, Friary Press would continue to operate as a separate business, but share the facility with Butler & Tanner.

Dolan said: "The extensive and underutilised capacity at Frome will provide The Friary Press with an enormous competitive advantage over its rivals and instantly equip the company to win contracts that have typically been lost to larger and often foreign competitors in the past few years."

According to the statement, The Friary Press has increased turnover from £9m to £12m since becoming part of Dolan's group in January, and has returned to profitability.

Dolan said the move would allow the firm to respond to client demands. "During the last six months, we have listened to our customers and researched why Friary has not succeeded in winning certain additional contracts that previously would have been destined for sites such as ours at Dorchester," he said.

"We have learned that our customers increasingly choose to place their business with print groups that can offer sufficient capacity and in-house facilities to accommodate their own growth prospects."
Source: printweek