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