Managing Director
Alexander Drew Ltd
Rochdale, Lancs
Bleachers, dyers and printers. Continuous wet processing - textiles. Bought company whilst in administration as part of Lamont Holdings Plc with cash deal. Company had lost approx £29m cumulative in preceding years. Turned company into a break even trading position within first year of ownership and traded until August 2005. The company was one of the largest textile printers in Europe with capacity to print and finish nearly one million metres of fabric each week through seven stork rotary printing machines, each capable of printing up to 20 colours and supported with a Brugman continuous bleaching range and ancillary equipment. In house design, laser engraving and ink jet sampling through to automated colour kitchens and production, all on a 9 acre 250,000 sq ft site in Rochdale town centre. Increasing import penetration diluted the market to such an extent that I decided the market could not support a volume manufacturer into the future and I took the decision to cease trading in 2005. The sale of plant, land and assets concluded in 2008.