New chapter for Apollo Moon

Library book binding specialist, Apollo Moon, is up for sale and has attracted a number of potential buyers.

The company entered voluntary administration and closed on 3 March.

According to John Westwood, owner of the company, a recent decline in sales meant that there was no other option left to take.

“It is a good company but with the economic situation we just ran out of money to pay our staff,” he said.

25 employees worked at the company, which has offices in both Sydney and Melbourne. Apollo Moon was founded by Louis H Moon in 1920, England. In 1985, it purchased Melbourne company, Apollo Moon Bookbinders and in May 2003 was bought by Westwood, in conjunction with the Sydney-based library binder, J.L. Cullen.

Bruce Mulvaney of Bruce Mulvaney & Co, who is handling the sale said that Apollo Moon had already received “a reasonable amount of interest” from the public.

“It is a very established company and a leader in the area,” he said.

Westwood was also pleased by the enthusiastic response; he is hopeful that this will save the company from permanent closure.

“We’ve already had interest from a few good potential buyers,” he said. “I would hope that there will be a decision made in the next 10 days.”

Westwood intends to keep working with books and libraries.

“I’ve promised a few different people that I would stick around [in the industry],” he said.