UPM reaches phase II of Sappi venture
Material manufacturers, UPM and Sappi, have reached the next stage of their Joint Venture which was first announced in December last year
Walstead has signed a five-year print deal with News UK
Walstead has secured a five-year print deal with News UK which will see the company print News UK’s entire portfolio of weekly newspaper supplements for The Saturday Times, The Sunday Times, and Sun on Sunday.
The largest commercial printing business in the UK, Walstead employs over 800 people over five manufacturing sites.
All titles will be printed at Walstead’s Bicester facility with the transition beginning this month and full production commencing on July 1st, 2023.
The contract is the result of a tender process which finished at the end of 2022 and since then, Walstead has been working with News UK on several key workstreams in order to ensure a smooth move from the pre-existing gravure process to Walstead’s heatset web offset platform.
Alongside this, Walstead’s Bicester site has also benefitted in substantial investment including the purchase of a Goss M600 cover press with six units and UV inline varnishing, and a Ferag Unidrum stitching line bringing the total number of high-speed stitching lines at the site to five.
The purchase of a completely refurbished Goss S5000 64pp press sees Walstead expand its shortgrain capacity. These new additions were acquired from the administrator of YM Group following its closure in 2022 and two additional Sitma paper banding lines were acquired from News UK’s incumbent printer.
“We are delighted to have secured this prestigious portfolio of titles which adds to the ever-growing list of blue-chip brands produced by Walstead,” says Paul Utting, chief executive officer of Walstead Group.
“This contract further endorses our market-leading position for high-volume publications and adds to the growing number of newspaper supplements secured by the group in the past 18 months. We have developed a strong relationship with News UK but this contract expands that relationship significantly and we are thrilled to have been entrusted with this responsibility.”
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