125 jobs are gone as Keating Group closes

03/02/2008 by conrad.

Engraver Closes

The UK’s “largest” gravure cylinders engraving facility has closed, with “around 125″ jobs across the country left hanging in the balance.

Staff at Keating Group, which also specialises in repro and cylinder production and is headquartered in Mold, Flintshire, were told on Friday morning that they were redundant and would not be paid for the last four weeks.

Ex-owner Mike Keating, who sold the business to Mike Samuel and Paul Musto in July last year, called the collapse “disgraceful”.

He claimed Ernst & Young had been appointed administrators this afternoon, “nearly a week” since the directors “pulled the plug”.

A source at one site said there had been “absolutely no expectation” of the shutdown, which the directors blamed on a bank changing its mind about releasing money for the company.

Keating Group’s sites include a cylinder engraving facility in Bradley Fold, Lancashire, a printer inplant facility in Livingston, Scotland, a repro site in Letchworth, Hertfordshire and a site in Dublin.

According to Keating, he was working with Ernst & Young to “trying to arrange something at Bradley Fold”.

“I’m just looking to see if any jobs can be saved,” he said, but admitted that he had “no power or control” to save “people he’d worked with for 20 years.”

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KEATING FACTFILE
Sites
• Mold, Flintshire repro, gravure cylinder engraving and production
• Bradley Fold engraving
• Letchworth design and repro
• Livingston engraving
• Dublin design, repro, engraving

Staff
• 125

Established
• 1987

Customers
• Amcor
• Alcan
• British American Tobacco

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Comments

When will the Printing Industry open up there eyes to the real world?

All print companies should take on board the `right` business people and business models to be successful in the 21st century.

There will be more companies going `bust` due to closing there eyes to the 21st century requirements.

Colin Thompson

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