Tag: merger

Merger creates Capital’s largest digital print and gift producer

Midlothian-based gift and stationery producer Southfield Stationers has merged with Edinburgh digital printer Digital Typeline Publications (DTP).

The newly, merged business will call upon the well-respected market presence of both brands to trade as DTP Southfield and will offer an extensive range of print services to an already wide array of markets.

DTP Southfield will bring together two skilled teams creating an experienced workforce of twenty. DTP Southfield will be moving from the current two locations to the twenty-thousand square feet, old paper mill building at Inveresk Mills in Musselburgh, East Lothian. 

The assistance of East Lothian Council in bringing the business to the area will help facilitate future employment opportunities and other benefits to the local economy.

Alun Joseph, MD of DTP said: “I am excited we have merged with a company we have known and trusted for many years. The Southfield name is well respected in the market and I look forward to taking it forward.

“We will be growing our new facility and product range over the coming months and years while continuing to look after our existing customers with the level of service and all the products they know us for today.”

Family-owned DTP which has over thirty five years’ experience in print, was formed as a high street photo processing lab in 1983 and turned to digital print in 1994. A market leader in digital print service, DTP produces high-quality digital print with the ability to enhance print items with metallic, white and neon pink print as well as bespoke foiling, digital die-cutting and short run creative packaging.

Southfield has been providing a wide range of paper and stationery products for over forty years. For the last twenty its offering of gift items has expanded, making Southfield one of the premier suppliers to gift and craft shops around the UK.

Several customers of both companies have already expressed interest in the new products and possibilities from DTP Southfield. Notably, those in the hospitality sector, gift shops, and artists are keen to benefit from the products now available to them from the company they already know and trust.

Derek Muller, who is standing down as MD of Southfield Stationers, said: “As everyone became tired of seeing the same mass-produced products on display in every high street across the UK, we created a range of high-quality, bespoke giftware for UK retailers.

“We have always provided retailers with products that will stand out from the crowd, and all made in the UK.

“We also work with a lot of artists directly, working closely with them and their original artwork to create beautiful, hand-made gift ranges.

“I am proud of what we have built over the last forty five years and believe that the Southfield name and loyal customers will be looked after and continue to grow in the hands of Alun who will now lead the merged business.”

Scran Academy announces merger with Prep Table Scotland

Scotland’s social enterprise and charity sector today sees the merger of two successful social impact organisations.

Scran Academy, the locally-based youth charity – which also today marks its third anniversary – has formally united with catering enterprise, Prep Table Scotland, whose mission is to make the food industry more open, fair and ethical for producers, suppliers, employees and customers.

The merger became an increasingly obvious move for both organisations as the dramatic events of 2020 unfolded.

Conversations to join forces were already underway before the Coronavirus pandemic hit the UK, but the Scran Meals Programme, developed to feed Edinburgh’s most vulnerable people during lockdown, was a real testing ground and the ‘accelerating force’ for integrating both organisations.

Today’s formal announcement comes following that period of joint operations for both organisations as they responded to the Covid-19 food crisis. The partnership’s pioneering Scran Meals Programme has produced and delivered over 112,500 meals to around 3,500 residents across the capital.

All core delivery, assets and staff will continue within the Scran Academy operations. This primarily includes the café that operates from the NHS Comely Bank Centre becoming the Scran Café (which will be a trading element that creates job placements for young people), securing employment for the Prep Table staff team and the Prep Table Scotland assets transferring to enable increased value for Scran Academy young people.

The merged organisation will retain the Scran Academy name.

John Loughton, Founder of Scran Academy, said: “The staff and Board at Scran Academy are delighted to welcome this merger with Prep Table Scotland. We see this as a mature and exciting move that helps us all collectively deliver better social outcomes than either of us could have alone.

“The epic response we were able to initiate in these last 4 months immediately proves how important it is for social enterprises to work together and embrace change. When things got really tough, we recognised we needed to collaborate, not simply compete.”

“We are honoured to take forward the impressive legacy Fiona Donaldson and the Prep Table Scotland team have built up using food for social change. We are fused by two core beliefs – the importance of empowering young people and communities, and secondly the transformational role of food to change lives and challenge norms.

“Our new increased capacity will see us continue to build a social catering business model that is better known, creates more jobs, enhances our impact and critically creates more life-changing opportunities for young people.”

Fiona Donaldson, Founder of Prep Table Scotland said: “Looking at what has been achieved by Scran Academy and partners since March this year, gives me great pride in an organisation I had admired for quite some time.

“In a culture which can be difficult to navigate, to find the core meaning and outcomes of, Scran has always had young people and their families as the engine that powered every decision they had to make.”

“Both organisations had concerns about losses incurred from the cancellation of income generating events, the closure of schools and the café. This decision has delivered a long-term plan for young people in Edinburgh, to flourish and to engage with their community. It has given hope to people who feared for their jobs in the catering industry and that’s a proud legacy of my organisation.”

“I look forward to joining the Scran Academy Board, with the great pride and excitement for what we will collectively achieve for years to come. I feel incredibly proud to have played a part in its most incredible rise.”

Sainsbury’s – Asda merger deal blocked by regulator

The Competition and Markets Authority has blocked the £14 billion Sainsbury’s – Asda merger after finding it would lead to increased prices in stores, online and at many petrol stations across the UK. Sainsbury’s say the regulator’s rebuff will take £1 billion in savings from customers’ pockets.  Continue reading Sainsbury’s – Asda merger deal blocked by regulator