Hopes rise for buyer to save print jobs in city

Print firm BemroseBooth, on Sutton Fields, Hull, made 26 redundancies this week. Last week it filed a notice of intent to appoint an administrator.

Staff employed in the telecoms scratch card division at the company on Sutton Fields in the city were ordered to leave on Tuesday. The move follows 160 redundancies at the company's HQ and factory in Derby.

David Stephenson, a senior manager at potential administrators, David Rubin & Partners, said BemroseBooth was not yet in administration – but it may be "soon."

He said the rest of the company – which employs 200 at Hull and Teesside – was operating normally. He said: "It is still trading. There are parts of this business that are very viable and worth saving and we think can be saved."

"There's potential to save most, if not all (the jobs) in Hull." Mr Stephenson confirmed that management was one of the parties who had expressed an interest in acquiring the remaining business, but said others were considering a move.

A new company BemroseBooth Systems was created earlier this month which lists chief executive Jean-Paul Ansel as a director.

Mr Stephenson said it didn't mean it would buy the business. "At the end of the day the duty of the management and the administrators when they are appointed is to get the best price possible – sometimes that might be management."

The trade union Unite said it was appalled by the way staff had been treated. "Our members were told their wages would not be paid and security guards were on hand to escort them off the sites."

No one was available to comment at BemroseBooth, in Hull.