Paperlinx is set to change name to Spicers and focus on new acquisitions after its last European arm in Germany failed to find a buyer and fell into administration. A vote saw most of the shareholders agree to change the merchant’s name to Spicers and to retain Robert Kaye as chairman. Kaye says the company is putting the disastrous European Paperlinx collapse behind and focusing exclusively on the ‘viable, well-managed businesses in ANZA’.

Andy Preece CEO of Paperlinx

“While the company now has a smaller geographic footprint, more importantly it has a profitable platform from which to implement its strategy to become a broader wholesale and distribution business,” he says. “Continued diversification is essential for future sustainability.” This came after the German arm of the company’s bid to secure a buyer failed forcing the local directors to continue running the loss-making business under supervision of a court appointed trustee. “The decision to file for insolvency proceedings was taken by the local director given that attempts to divest this division over the course of the last few months have been unsuccessful to date,” the company says. “The debtor in possession proceedings allows the business to continue to trade while continuing to seek opportunities to divest the operations.” Germany was the only piece of its European division Paperlinx had not sold or liquidated during its $300m exit from the region in April and May. Paperlinx also has a lease liability on its German sites, and while it says it cannot be estimated, the annual report put it at $1.7m a year until 2020. Andy Preece, CEO of Paperlinx, says the company wants to ‘rightsize’ the commercial paper business to increase diversification into areas that ‘provide higher margins and greater returns on investment’. These include speciality paper for the wide format, packaging, labels, and inkjet markets and ‘rapid’ expansion of its wide format hardware reselling operations. Preece says the company will increase its footprint in these areas with organic growth, and has identified multiple targets in Australia and New Zealand for acquisition. Paperlinx currently employs 460 people at 23 sites in seven countries including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

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