Some of the uncertainty over the future of manroland in the UK came to an end today when manroland sheetfed GmbH announced that it has acquired the sheetfed business and assets of manroland Great Britain Ltd, which went into Administration on 5th December 2011, following the insolvency of its German parent, manroland AG. UK Administrators were called in due to liabilities in the final salary pension scheme no longer being covered by the parent company.
manroland Great Britain Ltd had been trading since 1999 and was established when manroland Germany acquired PPS, its former UK distributor.
Over forty other subsidiaries around the world were part of a deal to acquire the sheetfed business of manroland AG, including over a million square feet of production facilities in Germany, by British industrialist Tony Langley last month. The UK business was not included in the Langley deal.
A new company, manroland sheetfed (UK) Ltd has been established and began trading from the same premises in Mitcham, south west London today with 37 employees. Adam Robotham (38) who joined manroland in 1998 as Commercial Sales Manager and was promoted to sheetfed sales director last year, has been announced as Managing Director.
A HQ spokesman for manroland sheetfed GmbH said in Germany today: "We are delighted to have been able to bring the uncertainty over our UK operations to an end and we thank our many valued UK customers for their patience while the situation was being resolved"
It is understood that a sale of the web assets of manroland Great Britain is at an advanced stage of negotiation with another party and that sale will include employees relating to the UK web activities.
manroland milestones:
- 1871: Louis Faber and Adolf Schleicher found the company Faber & Schleicher
- 1879: the "Albatros" press is launched, capable of printing up to 700 sheets per hour
- 1911: The first ROLAND sheetfed rotary offset press is built and is awarded a gold medal at the World Fair in Turin
- 1921: The first prototype of a three-cylinder web offset press in "Berliner format" is developed.
- 1922: A new single-color offset press, the KLEIN ROLAND 00, is presented which can print up to 5,000 sheets per hour.
- 1951: A four-color sheetfed offset press, the ULTRA, is presented at the first drupa trade show in Dusseldorf.
- 1972: Introduction of the ROLAND 800, the first sheetfed offset press with integrated color control system, which permits printing speeds of up to 10,000 sheets per hour.
- 1979: MAN Roland Druckmaschinen AG is founded. This company is formed by the amalgamation of "Roland Offset-und Maschinenfabrik Faber & Schleicher" with "Augsburger M.A.N. Druck & Maschinenbau".
- 1990: PECOM control console technology is introduced together with a new automation concept for the medium-format ROLAND 700, enabling speeds of up to 15,000 sheets per hour to be achieved.
- 1995: The ROLAND 900 large-format sheetfed offset press makes its debut at drupa setting new standards in terms of speed and economy
- 2000: The ROLAND 500 is launched, capable of 18,000 sheets per hour
- 2003: ROLAND 900, XXL in format 7/7B and format 8 is unveiled
- 2004: Introduction of ROLAND InlineFoiler Prindor: cold foil laminating in sheetfed printing.
- 2006: MAN sells the majority interest in MAN Roland Druckmaschinen AG to Allianz Capital Partners (ACP), the private equity arm of Allianz AG. The shares are now held by an investment company in which MAN holds 35 % and ACP 65 %.
- 2006: "DirectDrive" technology is unveiled, enabling super-fast makeready times. The event is recorded in the Guiness Book of Records.
- 2007: Strengthening of service competencies: active marketing of PRINTVALUE with printservices, printcom, printnet and printadvice.
- 2008: MAN Roland Druckmaschinen AG becomes manroland AG. A new logo is presented at drupa that year and the intention is to take the company public in the near future. ROLAND 700 presses capable of up to 18,000 sheets per hour are now available.
- 2009: The credit crunch is hitting the printing industry hard and plans to take manroland AG public are shelved.
- 2010: "One Touch" concept is unveiled introducing the vision of a sheetfed press that at the push of a button brings a previously unimaginable degree of automation; the concept has already been proven on manroland web presses
- 2010: manroland announces collaboration with inkjet-based digital printing systems producer, Océ.
- 2010: The company launches the ROLAND 900 XXL, the largest sheetfed perfector press yet to be produced, leapfrogging competitors in both quality and capacity.
- 2011: Sales of new presses have dropped by over 60% since 2008 but aftermarket sales to an installed base numbering over 10,000 worldwide have remained stable. ACP enters talks with Swiss private equity firm Capvis, but negotiations fail to materialize into a takeover and on 25 November, manroland AG files for insolvency.
- 2012: (January) Insolvency Administrator Werner Schneider reports strong interest from potential suitors. A sale of the web division to the German L.
Possehl & Co mbH group is agreed. The sheetfed division, along with all real estate including around 1,000,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing facilities in Offenbach and nearby Mainhausen, along with over 40 sales and service subsidiaries worldwide, is sold to British industrialist Tony Langley and the engineering group he controls, Langley Holdings PLC.
- 2012: (7 February) Merger clearance is received from the German Bundeskartellamt and manroland sheetfed GmbH begins trading. During the insolvency around 1000 employees have been dismissed at the Offenbach headquarters and manufacturing plant. In a moving address to the assembled Offenbach workforce of around 1000 remaining staff, speaking in English through a translator, Langley heralds "the beginning of a new era", pledging long term commitment and evoking John F Kennedy's famous Berlin speech by stating: "Ich bin ein Rolander". The takeover is universally welcomed.
- 2012>: The market for printing presses has seen unprecedented turmoil in recent years but manroland sheetfed GmbH, producer of the "Porsche" of printing presses, expects to be back in profit within the year and has maintained capacity to step production back up when market conditions eventually improve. Meanwhile the company has maintained its research and development program throughout and will showcase at drupa 2012.
Disclamer
This press release contains projections for the future based on the well-founded assumptions and prognoses of the management of manroland sheetfed GmbH. Though management believes these assumptions and estimates to be correct, actual developments in the future, as well as actual operating results, may deviate from those put forward by management due to factors beyond the control of the company, such factors to include, for example, fluctuating exchange rates, changes within the graphic arts industry, or any other unforeseen economic and/or market transformations. manroland sheetfed GmbH makes no guarantees that future developments and/or future operating results will match any of the numbers and/or statements put forth in this press release, and assumes no liability if such situations arise. Furthermore, no responsibility is assumed for updating any of the statements and/or figures contained herein.
manroland Great Britain Ltd had been trading since 1999 and was established when manroland Germany acquired PPS, its former UK distributor.
Over forty other subsidiaries around the world were part of a deal to acquire the sheetfed business of manroland AG, including over a million square feet of production facilities in Germany, by British industrialist Tony Langley last month. The UK business was not included in the Langley deal.
A new company, manroland sheetfed (UK) Ltd has been established and began trading from the same premises in Mitcham, south west London today with 37 employees. Adam Robotham (38) who joined manroland in 1998 as Commercial Sales Manager and was promoted to sheetfed sales director last year, has been announced as Managing Director.
A HQ spokesman for manroland sheetfed GmbH said in Germany today: "We are delighted to have been able to bring the uncertainty over our UK operations to an end and we thank our many valued UK customers for their patience while the situation was being resolved"
It is understood that a sale of the web assets of manroland Great Britain is at an advanced stage of negotiation with another party and that sale will include employees relating to the UK web activities.
manroland milestones:
- 1871: Louis Faber and Adolf Schleicher found the company Faber & Schleicher
- 1879: the "Albatros" press is launched, capable of printing up to 700 sheets per hour
- 1911: The first ROLAND sheetfed rotary offset press is built and is awarded a gold medal at the World Fair in Turin
- 1921: The first prototype of a three-cylinder web offset press in "Berliner format" is developed.
- 1922: A new single-color offset press, the KLEIN ROLAND 00, is presented which can print up to 5,000 sheets per hour.
- 1951: A four-color sheetfed offset press, the ULTRA, is presented at the first drupa trade show in Dusseldorf.
- 1972: Introduction of the ROLAND 800, the first sheetfed offset press with integrated color control system, which permits printing speeds of up to 10,000 sheets per hour.
- 1979: MAN Roland Druckmaschinen AG is founded. This company is formed by the amalgamation of "Roland Offset-und Maschinenfabrik Faber & Schleicher" with "Augsburger M.A.N. Druck & Maschinenbau".
- 1990: PECOM control console technology is introduced together with a new automation concept for the medium-format ROLAND 700, enabling speeds of up to 15,000 sheets per hour to be achieved.
- 1995: The ROLAND 900 large-format sheetfed offset press makes its debut at drupa setting new standards in terms of speed and economy
- 2000: The ROLAND 500 is launched, capable of 18,000 sheets per hour
- 2003: ROLAND 900, XXL in format 7/7B and format 8 is unveiled
- 2004: Introduction of ROLAND InlineFoiler Prindor: cold foil laminating in sheetfed printing.
- 2006: MAN sells the majority interest in MAN Roland Druckmaschinen AG to Allianz Capital Partners (ACP), the private equity arm of Allianz AG. The shares are now held by an investment company in which MAN holds 35 % and ACP 65 %.
- 2006: "DirectDrive" technology is unveiled, enabling super-fast makeready times. The event is recorded in the Guiness Book of Records.
- 2007: Strengthening of service competencies: active marketing of PRINTVALUE with printservices, printcom, printnet and printadvice.
- 2008: MAN Roland Druckmaschinen AG becomes manroland AG. A new logo is presented at drupa that year and the intention is to take the company public in the near future. ROLAND 700 presses capable of up to 18,000 sheets per hour are now available.
- 2009: The credit crunch is hitting the printing industry hard and plans to take manroland AG public are shelved.
- 2010: "One Touch" concept is unveiled introducing the vision of a sheetfed press that at the push of a button brings a previously unimaginable degree of automation; the concept has already been proven on manroland web presses
- 2010: manroland announces collaboration with inkjet-based digital printing systems producer, Océ.
- 2010: The company launches the ROLAND 900 XXL, the largest sheetfed perfector press yet to be produced, leapfrogging competitors in both quality and capacity.
- 2011: Sales of new presses have dropped by over 60% since 2008 but aftermarket sales to an installed base numbering over 10,000 worldwide have remained stable. ACP enters talks with Swiss private equity firm Capvis, but negotiations fail to materialize into a takeover and on 25 November, manroland AG files for insolvency.
- 2012: (January) Insolvency Administrator Werner Schneider reports strong interest from potential suitors. A sale of the web division to the German L.
Possehl & Co mbH group is agreed. The sheetfed division, along with all real estate including around 1,000,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing facilities in Offenbach and nearby Mainhausen, along with over 40 sales and service subsidiaries worldwide, is sold to British industrialist Tony Langley and the engineering group he controls, Langley Holdings PLC.
- 2012: (7 February) Merger clearance is received from the German Bundeskartellamt and manroland sheetfed GmbH begins trading. During the insolvency around 1000 employees have been dismissed at the Offenbach headquarters and manufacturing plant. In a moving address to the assembled Offenbach workforce of around 1000 remaining staff, speaking in English through a translator, Langley heralds "the beginning of a new era", pledging long term commitment and evoking John F Kennedy's famous Berlin speech by stating: "Ich bin ein Rolander". The takeover is universally welcomed.
- 2012>: The market for printing presses has seen unprecedented turmoil in recent years but manroland sheetfed GmbH, producer of the "Porsche" of printing presses, expects to be back in profit within the year and has maintained capacity to step production back up when market conditions eventually improve. Meanwhile the company has maintained its research and development program throughout and will showcase at drupa 2012.
Disclamer
This press release contains projections for the future based on the well-founded assumptions and prognoses of the management of manroland sheetfed GmbH. Though management believes these assumptions and estimates to be correct, actual developments in the future, as well as actual operating results, may deviate from those put forward by management due to factors beyond the control of the company, such factors to include, for example, fluctuating exchange rates, changes within the graphic arts industry, or any other unforeseen economic and/or market transformations. manroland sheetfed GmbH makes no guarantees that future developments and/or future operating results will match any of the numbers and/or statements put forth in this press release, and assumes no liability if such situations arise. Furthermore, no responsibility is assumed for updating any of the statements and/or figures contained herein.
