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CFH acquires FST Technologies

18 October 2011

Print and mail company CFH Total Document Management Ltd has announced the acquisition of the business and assets of FST Technologies Ltd. 

FST Technologies, a £4million turnover print and mail business based in Livingston and East Kilbride, Scotland, went into administration on 14 October with the appointment of Geoff Rowley and Jason Baker, partners at specialist restructuring, recovery and insolvency firm FRP Advisory LLP, as Joint Administrators. The acquisition, which followed a pre-packaged administration and bidding process, will build on the existing presence of CFH in Scotland and increase its business north of the border. 

Established in 2000 and employing 41 staff, FST has made a name for itself providing both online and paper based document solutions. Bill McFedries, previously Technical Director of FST, will be joining the board of CFH to oversee the integration of the two companies. The FST Technologies name will remain the trading name in Scotland. 

Dave Broadway, Managing Director of CFH said "FST provides interesting IT driven solutions to a number of key clients. There is a lot of synergy between our businesses, and I am looking forward to exploring the benefits that CFH can bring to the clients of FST and vice versa." 

"As we stated some months ago, CFH is currently seeking suitable acquisitions. This is the first of those, and once we have understood and settled FST, we will be looking for further opportunities." 

Geoff Rowley adds: "FST Technologies is an innovative and successful business, with a blue chip client base. The business performed extremely well during 2010 and following a number of major client wins, invested in new technology to improve its service.

"Unfortunately the loss of a key client towards the end of that year impacted heavily – the company's revenues were too low to off-set its increase in overheads and it found itself in financial difficulty. 

"Together with key stakeholders, it was decided the best course of action was to enter a formal insolvency process to protect the company's underlying value and seek to secure a sale of the business immediately as a part of a managed administration." 

CFH is a £28 million print and mail business, employing some 200 staff, based near Bath, Somerset. With litho and digital print (including digital colour), mail enclosing and sortation, an access agreement with Royal Mail, and as a licensed postal operator, CFH provides clients with a 'supply chain under one roof', going from plain paper to the final document, to the final user of that document, and to the final mile of delivery. 

CFH is the provider of Docmail, the market leading hybrid mail service. 

The acquisition cost is undisclosed.

For more information please contact:

Company:
Dave Broadway
daveb@cfh.com
01761 416311

Press information for CFH Total Document Management Ltd:
Penny Adair
penny@pennyadair.co.uk

Press contact for FRP Advisory LLP:
Kate Macnamara
Kate.macnamara@grayling.com
0121 265 2761