St Ives acquires Service Graphics

St Ives has acquired the whole of the issued share capital of Service Graphics Limited for an initial consideration of 18 million.

Established in 1961, Service Graphics is an independent large format graphics producer. It provides a wide range of large format digital print services and offers a fully comprehensive consultancy, manufacturing and installation service to the exhibition, retail, creative, live event and leisure sectors. Particular areas of expertise include the provision of all kinds of display products, modular and custom designed exhibition stands, full service retail solutions and giant media production. Service Graphic’s current clients include: RBS, Berkeley Homes, BAA and Boots.

The Company has some 400 employees located in offices and production facilities in London, Bristol, Edenbridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hayes (Middlesex), Nottingham, Salisbury, Skelmersdale and Wales, giving it extensive UK geographic coverage.

Following the acquisition it will continue to be managed by the existing management team as part of the Commercial Products Segment of St Ives under the leadership of Simon Ward. The acquisition gives both Service Graphics and St Ives the opportunity to cross sell a wider product offering to a broader customer base. There is minimal product or customer overlap and the technical capabilities and product offerings of the two businesses are complementary.

Commenting on the announcement, Simon Ward, chief executive of direct and point of sale activities at St Ives, said: ‘Service Graphics is focused on the delivery of exceptional service and represents a real catch in today’s digital market place. The acquisition significantly extends our digital capabilities and reinforces our strategy of developing further specialist print related services, increasingly through digital technology.’

Announcing the acquisition, Brian Edwards, managing director of St Ives, said: ‘This acquisition represents a further investment in our digital capabilities. Digital technology is at the forefront of our future strategy and we now offer the widest range of digital format printing and related services in the UK.’