Sad demise of Paperlinx in the UK

Yesterday it was announced that the Paperlinx group companies were placed in administration (in common parlance that means gone bust). Staff have been sent home and the phones are not being answered. This is not an April fool joke.

Paperlinx is the Australian company which owns three UK paper merchants that you will be familiar with: Robert Horne, Howard Smith and The Paper Co.

You can read more about it on the Printweek website:
http://www.printweek.com/print-week/news/1150685/breaking-deloitte-appointed-at-paperlinx-uk-most-branches-closed

Regular readers of this blog may well remember that I had a bit of a 'run in' with Paperlinx and their solicitors after posting a hyperlink (with allegedly defamatory remarks) when I wrote about Toby Marchant's 'golden goodbye' departure:
http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/toby-marchant-exits-paperlinx.html
Sadly, Graham Critchley, who ran the website exposing the shananagins at Paperlinx (and who's blog I linked to) passed away in January 2014. The financial troubles at Paperlinx have persisted resulting in this rather final and drastic action for the UK division.

It is very sad for our industry and for the near one thousand staff working in the UK for the group. Although this may have been a chronically mismanaged company, it sadly highlights the bad state that the paper and printing industry is in. Definitely no laughing matter here.

http://www.printweek.com/print-week/news/1150698/merchants-move-to-plug-paperlinx-gap

Posted by Justin Hobson 02.04.2014

Shock, horror ...it's finally happened!

 Well to most people it was always obvious and to some inevitable, but on Friday, the three companies which makes up the UK paper merchanting interests of the Australian, loss making conglomerate Paperlinx, started answering their phones using their new name.

Robert Horne, Howard Smith and Paperco will now be known as PaperlinX (surprise, surprise!)

...from this

to this....

You can read more about it here:

http://www.printweek.com/bulletin/printweekdailybulletin/article/1181216/paperlinx-rebrands-howard-smith-robert-horne-paperco/

 

This is actually a great shame for the paper industry and reflects the rather sad (and bad) state of the industry overall. I've written about it before on this blog:

http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/toby-marchant-exits-paperlinx.html

http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.com/2012/05/stardream-answering-your-questions.html

...including my legal "shot across the bows" from Paperlinx:

http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.com/2012/10/paperlinx-gets-stroppy.html

 



Posted by Justin Hobson 07.05.2013

PaperlinX gets stroppy!

Oh deary me! Last Friday I received a legal notice from posh solicitors Shoosmiths, acting on behalf of Paperlinx about a post on this very blog! - it's almost made me feel important!

 

Rather sadly I can't actually post the letter on the blog because of it's legal nature, so I can only show a "redacted" letter (that's the word that everyone used last year connected with the parliamentary expenses scandal) ...so you can't read it!



Anyway, you'll all be pleased to know that although it's about alleged defamatory allegations, they aren't ones I've written - it's been sent to me because I posted a link to an Australian based website, written by Paperlinx shareholder Graham Critchley. Obviously, I've now removed the link, but this was the original article:

http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/toby-marchant-exits-paperlinx.html

 

You may remember from previous posts that PaperlinX is the global, loss making, Australian company which owns Robert Horne, Howard Smith and The Paper Co - names of UK paper merchants which many of you will be familiar with. 

 

Picture courtesy of www.printweek.com

Unfortunately PaperlinX is in a financially perilous state which has been much reported in the press and is now headed by Dave Allen ( ...not the erstwhile Irish comedian!). Personally, I would have thought he might do better working to get the figures looking better for the banks and shareholders than worrying about nice people like me and the links I put on my blog!

 

However, this could be useful information for readers of this blog, because I certainly didn't know that by linking a site, you are in fact re-publishing that site and therefore also responsible for what's been published - interesting eh? So thanks to Paperlinx and Shoosmiths for the heads up! 

 

www.paperlinx.com.au

www.shoosmiths.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 10.10.2012



Toby Marchant exits Paperlinx

Yesterday, Paperlinx announced the resignation of its chief executive, Toby Marchant (did he jump or was he pushed?) For those that don't know, he's been the guy at the head of Australian based Paperlinx. If you're wondering what that's got to do with this blog and you - it's because they own Robert Horne, Howard Smith and The Paper Co -names of UK paper merchants which many of you will be familiar with. 

Toby Marchant started as a paper merchant in the UK, eventually becoming Managing Director of the loss making Modo Merchants (now closed down). He jumped ship at the end of the 90's to the profitable Robert Horne Group and after overseeing years of declining profitability, he was promoted (!) through the ranks of  the parent company, Paperlinx, ending up as CEO (...nice work!)

For Paperlinx, which a decade ago was worth more than (Aus)$2 Billion (-yes, you did read that correctly), there are many issues - it now has a market capitalisation of only (Aus)$25 Million (Source: Sydney Morning Herald) - having recently sold off operations in South Africa, Italy and Eastern Europe, it is contending with hostile shareholders trying to reverse several years of corporate losses and it's bankers. Suppliers appear to be withdrawing products; Zanders have withdrawn Chromolux, ArjoWiggins have stopped supplying their recycled ranges, Cordenons have withdrawn their Stardream range and suppliers are struggling to get credit insurance cover. Other executives including Malcolm Lane-Ley, Managing Director of Howard Smith and The PaperCo is also leaving at the end of this month.

Robert Horne Paper was the revered company in the UK paper industry, as a supplier, customer and employer. I was fortunate enough to meet Kenneth Horne in 1995 and I even bought the book he published "Somebody said that it couldn't be done" which documented his three decades at the helm of the company founded by his grandfather - and make no mistake, it was a great company. It will certainly be sad for the UK industry if the end result of Paperlinx involvement means that this and the sister companies simply disappear.

Hundreds (if not thousands) of jobs have been lost in the UK paper industry in recent years. I hope that Toby Marchant, who is set to receive a "banker style" golden goodbye of one year's salary (after only 2 years as CEO) will reflect on this whilst lying on his sun lounger!

http://www.smh.com.au/business/news-takes-a-page-from-paperlinx-20120717-228fo.html
www.paperlinx.com
http://www.printweek.com/bulletin/printweekdailybulletin/article/1141767/paperlinxs-toby-marchant-give-interim-chief-executive-dave-allen/

Posted by Justin Hobson 18.07.2012

28th September Update
Printweek reports today that Marchant ended his employment with Paperlinx on a salary of £363,545 after he took a 15% voluntary pay cut on 1 April (April Fools day!) this year. Tobes gets 12 months salary as part of his "mutual" decision to leave the company. On top of this, he was given £26,000 in accrued entitlements to bonuses for completed asset sales in 2011/2012 and £21,648 to compensate for untaken annual leave. I'm sure everyone in Northampton will be pleased to know that he'll be comfortably off in his retirement.
http://www.printweek.com/news/1152474/Paperlinx-AGM-postponed-chairman-leaves-prematurely/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH

===============================================
10th October 2012 - Important update
A link to an Australian website run by a Paperlinx shareholder has been REMOVED from this post, following a legal notice sent to me by a solicitor acting for Paperlinx Limited.
I have written about this on the following post:
http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/paperlinx-gets-stroppy.html
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As with everything written on this blog, the views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to Fenner Paper Company Ltd!