Court approves survival plan for printing firm

A HIGH Court judge has approved a survival scheme to safeguard 60 jobs at a well-known Dublin printing company which published the Belfast Agreement and has links to James Joyce's novel Ulysses.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly said the examinership process had worked well for the company, Wood-Printcraft Ltd, which is expected to return to profit next year even before securing Government contracts worth €1 million a year. It was for such companies the examinership process was intended, he added.

The judge noted the company is one of the largest employers in the Coolock area of north Dublin and some 60 employees, most of the workforce, would retain their jobs under the schemes proposed, and he wished the company and its employees well in the future.

The company dated back to 1837 but had recently fallen on hard times, largely as a result of market conditions, the judge said.

It had also experienced problems due to State printing contracts being given to firms outside the country.

It had employed some 98 people but that number is to be reduced to 60 under the survival proposals. The examiner, George Maloney, had expressed the view that the company’s difficulties were no fault of its management who were doing their best and would remain in place, the judge noted.

The company expects to return to profit next year following job losses, wage cuts and various schemes for some payments to creditors.

The majority of the company’s creditors and the Revenue supported the survival scheme, which also involved investment of some €250,000, the court heard. It had also sourced alternative suppliers of paper.

Wood-Printcraft Ltd was incorporated in 1961. The long-established printing businesses of Brindley Dollard, which originated in the 19th century and featured in a passage of Ulysses, and the Wood Printing Works, first established in 1837, merged with it in 1978.

These businesses had survived the Famine, the Civil War, two world wars and later economic downturns but had been “felled” by the present “economic depression”, the judge had observed last March when appointing Mr Maloney as examiner. At its peak the company employed some 310 people but its turnover declined from a high of €22 million in 2001 to €9 million in 2008.

In separate proceedings, the High Court has confirmed survival schemes for a company operating a number of well known clothing stores employing 105 people.

Bestseller Retail Ireland Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Danish company Bestseller A/S, has been operating in Ireland since 1991.

It sells clothes and accessories under the brand names Vero Moda, Jack and Jones, Only and Name It.

An examiner, Declan McDonald, was appointed to the company last February after it announced it was closing 14 of its 36 stores.

The examiner then prepared survival proposals which included applications to repudiate leases on premises from which the stores operate.

Yesterday, Bernard Dunleavy, for the examiner, said the survival schemes involved a €2.2 million investment via an equity introduction by the parent company and had received the unanimous support of creditors.