Section 172 Statement

The company maintains its ambition to the be leading supplier of printing services to the specialist magazine and commercial sector in the UK. Despite the challenges of Covid 19 the Directors strive to achieve this by promoting and managing investment in the business and its employees as well as actively looking to nurture strong relationships with all stakeholders that include employees, customers, suppliers and the local community.

Employees and their wellbeing are of the upmost importance to the directors. The company retains all the ethos of a family firm and many of our employees have been with us over 20 years. Communication and consultation are seen as a high priority and the directors produce quarterly team briefings that are distributed to all staff keeping them informed of financial performance, new investments, projected sales, health and safety information and environmental performance. An open dialogue is maintained through union representatives.

The directors have ensured that there is constant investment in improvement of work processes and capital equipment and see this as key to making sure that we give our customers the products that they need, with raw materials from sustainable sources. The firm works for a wide variety of customers from high street names to charities and religious organizations.

The Directors recognize the importance of maintaining a strong balance sheet for the business to ensure that liquidity is strong and that all financial commitments to all stakeholders can be met comfortably. This has been achieved by maximizing cash in the business and borrowing focused on investment. The directors are mindful of protecting shareholder value and are particularly pleased that as of 2020 retained profits are still over £23m.

Suppliers are reviewed regularly and have to demonstrate a high standard of corporate social responsibility as well as capability. The directors ensure that our contractual obligations are met to these suppliers both in terms of payment performance but also in all operational matters. The company enjoys a strong reputation in the industry with our suppliers.

Being located in the same market town since 1926 our relationships with community form an important part of our culture. The company is accredited to the environmental quality standard 14001 and directors take an active part in the implementation of the environmental management system.  This ensures that all investments and operations are designed to minimize any environmental impacts.

The Directors also regularly review the company policies on conduct, ethics, ICE and equality and that these are freely available to all stakeholders.