Hague Group acquires £6M turnover print management company

West Yorkshire-headquartered specialist print supplier Hague Group has acquired a £6m-turnover print management company based in the Midlands.Venture, which has been established for more than 40 years, has a turnover of about £6m and employs 30 staff over its three sites in Leicester, Ilkeston and Newcastle under Lyme.

The current sales and administration team will remain in place at Venture and Hague plans to invest to further develop sales.

Normanton-based Hague Print, founded in 1980, has an annual turnover of £24m and employs 90 people. It supplies millions of security documents, cheques, security labels, holographic foils, certificates in more than 50 countries.

The Venture deal is the group's second UK acquisition of 2018, following on from the purchase of Contrac in January.

Graham Wain, managing director of Hague Group, said: "Our company is a strong growing business with an outstanding suite of print and software products. I look forward to tapping into the collective resources that Venture will bring to the Hague Group to provide an unparalleled range of solutions for our customers."

Gavin Dickson, one of the former owners of Venture, added: "I am really excited to build on the success we have had at Venture and I am also really looking forward to developing this wider offering within the group.

"Sheffield-based Castle Square Corporate Finance advised the selling shareholders on the transaction, in which Hague Print emerged as the preferred bidder from a structured trade sale process.

Castle Square director Steve Bell said: "Having worked closely with Venture for a number of years it is apparent that the shareholders had developed an excellent business and as the shareholders were looking to realise their investment we were tasked to identify an acquisition partner that would continue to invest in the long-term success of Venture. Undertaking a structured sale process, it became apparent that Hague was an ideal acquisition partner, being a family owned company with an ethos of acquisition and investment."

Hague was advised by Andy Francey and Fiona Woodhead from Freeths' Leeds office