Swallowtail Print has gone into company administration following a series of challenges and after an attempt at selling the company ultimately proved unsuccessful.
The Norfolk commercial printer, registered as Swallowtail Print Limited and operated from leased premises in Drayton near Norwich had filed a notice of intention to appoint an administrator on 11 June 2025. Jo Watts and Andrew McTear of McTear Williams & Wood in Norwich were subsequently formally appointed as joint administrators of the company on 24 June.
The administrators said the business started to encounter difficulties during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the following years it then faced a number of other external issues, “such as recent inflationary crisis leading to the cost of services provided by the company to rise, changes to employment legislation in 2024 increasing the cost of employing staff and energy price volatility triggered by the conflict of Ukraine and Russia have caused significant pressure on cashflow.”
Prior to the administration McTear Williams & Wood said it initiated an accelerated sale process and due to the difficult trading position a date for final offers was set for 20 June 2025.
“A significant amount of interest was received but although a number of offers were made, none were for the company as a going concern and could not be proceeded with. The company therefore ceased trading on 24 June having already managed to complete as much of the work in progress as possible while avoiding increasing its creditor position. “This ultimately means there will be more funds available to creditors than had it ceased to trade such as via a liquidation,” the administrators said.
All 44 employees of the circa £5.4m turnover company were made redundant at that time. The administrators said they have instructed George Hazell & Co which specialises in the sale of the machinery and business assets, to assist with maximising Swallowtail’s asset realisation. Its made asset was a Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 106-5+L press. At this stage the joint administrators said they are still receiving information relating to the claims of creditors, although it is anticipated that claims will be “in excess of £1m”.
“Any dividend to unsecured creditors is dependent upon the sale of the company’s assets being sufficient to extinguish in full the claims of the preferential and secondary preferential creditors (in this case employees and HMRC)”, the administrators added.
McTear Williams & Wood is currently preparing its proposals for the administration and this will provide a detailed update to creditors on the dividend prospects and the purpose of the administration. Posting the news of the closure on LinkedIn Swallowtail’s own account said: “We would like to thank all our dedicated staff, customers and suppliers who have supported us for many years”.
The company’s managing director James Baxter also posted on his personal LinkedIn accountL “It’s been a horrible time for us all. Thank you to all my staff who have worked tirelessly throughout. I wish them all well and hope they can all move on quickly to new beginnings.” He added his own future was unclear for now.
While many of the company’s former staff have stated that they are ‘open to work’ on LinkedIn, Dave Spooner, who served in a business development role at Swallowtail, posted: “I’m really pleased to share that several of us have now joined Page Bros. “I’m excited about what lies ahead – Page Bros is a brilliant company with a long history and strong values and it’s a great fit for our customers. We’ll continue to offer the same high quality, competitive pricing and excellent service.” Spooner has take up the role of account executive at Norwich-based Page Bros. Calls to Swallowtail’s number go straight to a busy tone.
www.printweek.co.uk
1 July 2025