The former owners of Protectaprint in Adelaide have returned to the printing industry with the purchase of laminating and coating business Allkotes Melbourne.
Richard and Steve Wilkinson spent 18 months away from the industry since ‘winning the lottery’ by selling the assets of their Adelaide laminating and foiling business to McPherson’s, a division of Opus Group.
“We decided retirement wasn’t as good as we thought it would be,” says Richard Wilkinson. “We’re involved in other businesses but we prefer printing to anything else we’re doing. We missed the industry’s technical developments, the interaction with clients and just helping clients to meet their goals.”
The company will be renamed Protectaprint Victoria and Wilkinson says they’ll be looking to expand the print finishing business.
“We will be making investments in new coating and laminating machines and we’ll also be looking to add four or five new staff members to the existing staff of 13.
“The business has been around for a long time, it’s well established and has a good reputation in the market as an innovator in laminating, hot foil stamping and spot UV. The deal came about mostly because we’ve enjoyed a long relationship of mutual respect with the previous owners. We will continue to work closely with Allkotes in Sydney, especially in area of technical improvements. The challenge for us in Melbourne is that it’s a much broader market than Adelaide.”
The Wilkinson brothers are planning to relocate from Adelaide to Melbourne before the end of the year.
“We’re here in Melbourne Monday to Friday right now but we’ll be relocating to Melbourne sometime in the next six months. The deal took effect on 1 May and this is just my second day sitting in the office.”
Allkotes managing director Graham Wickett says the sale is ‘very pleasing’ and the Wilkinsons will continue the quality, service and respected work of Allkotes in Melbourne. Allkotes will now concentrate on the New South Wales market but the two companies will work together in areas including technical development and material purchasing.
With over 25 years in laminating, coating and foil stamping, the Wilkinsons will bring considerable technical and servicing experience to the Melbourne market, says Wickett.