Shock loss of 140 jobs as printing firm folds

8:10am Wednesday 24th December 2008

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Staff at Romsey printworks were stunned to hear that they had all lost their jobs just three days before Christmas.

One hundred and forty workers at Borcombe SP, on the Abbey Industrial Estate, were handed a letter on Monday morning, stating: “The company is insolvent and is unable to make payment to you for any money to which you may be entitled.”

An employee, who wished to remain anonymous, said that Monday marked the last day of a 30-day consultation period which the firm had been running prior to making redundancies.

“It was a big shock to us all,” he said. “We were told to expect that 42 redundancies would be announced, but instead we were informed that the company was closing.”

He said that although cutbacks were being made, the firm still seemed busy and he had worked overtime this month.

At Monday’s meeting, staff, who had not been paid since December 1, were told flatly that were no buyers for the firm and that it was end of the line for Borecombe. Managing-director- Simon Hunt- told staff they had to gather up any personal possessions and leave immediately.

Speaking to industry magazine, Printweek, Ann Field, of the union Unite, described the move as”a scandal”.

Last week, two of the four remaining printing presses were removed from the Premier Way premises and this fuelled rumours that the firm was in deep trouble.

But a notice went up from management saying the company was not going to close and it was negotiating a refinancing deal.

Borcombe’s affairs are now being handled by London-based insolvency practitioners, David Rubin and Partners.

“We have been instructed to place the company into liquidation,” said Adam Silver, of David Rubin.

He said a meeting to officially liquidate the firm would take place at the end of January or the beginning of February. Creditors, including former employees, would be given notice of the meeting and would be allowed to attend.

Borcombe has been subject to a serious of buy-outs over the last two years. In 2006 it was bought by MPI which later folded and was then sold to HS Printers which got into financial difficulties and ended up with Datateam buying the business.

On Monday afternoon a Borecambe spokesman refused to confirm or deny the business was in trouble.

"No one knows what's going on," he said, adding that he was told not to comment on the situation.

Further attempts to contact Borcombe bosses by telephone failed when a staff member hung up on our reporter.