Langley Holdings PLC, the diverse engineering group that rescued the sheetfed division of Manroland AG over four years ago, has recouped its €85m investment in the giant press manufacturer.

Billionaire owner Tony Langley says, “…towards the end of 2015 the group's cash position had passed the level it would have been had the acquisition not taken place."

The reason for the rapid return of his €85m invested in the business and assets of Manroland’s sheetfed division in February 2012 lies not so much in sales since then but in the deal that Langley did with administrator Werner Schneider.

Langley Holdings bought the entire assets of the division – property, plant, machinery, stock, work-in-progress, debtors – and the shares in the forty or so still-solvent subsidiaries around the world – for something like 35 cents on the dollar. Then, as the new Manroland Sheetfed GmbH began trading, many of those heavily discounted assets began turning to cash: debts taken over were collected, stocks and work-in-progress turned into new debtors and surplus property and plant sold off, as the business concentrated to a single location. Add to that a modest trading profit each year and the investment has been recouped.

Since he bought the business Langley has not put a cent more into Manroland, the company has been
standing on its own feet ever since the Langley deal, despite millions going into developing the next generation Roland 700 Evolution B1 press, which printers will see at drupa.

Part of Langley’s strategy was to focus on existing customers rather than spend significant money
chasing new customers, which all manufacturers have found to be thin on the ground given the parlous state of many printing businesses since the GFC

Langley had done his sums correctly and today both Manroland Sheetfed and its parent are evidently in strong financial health. Although not a stellar performer compared with other divisions, the press builder contributed around 10 per cent towards Langley Holdings' pretax profit, pushing the group's result to €106.7m. Langley says he is ‘satisfied with the achievements in this division.’

Now that he has got his money back the question on many lips is will Langley cash out on his investment, now that the press builder has turned the corner? The answer is almost certainly not, at least if his track record is anything to go by, Langley has not sold any of the companies he's turned around in over two decades. And neither does he need to, the group has no debt and reported cash of €330m at December 31. Langley himself isn't exactly short of a quid either, he entered Forbes list of world billionaires at number 1577 this year, with an estimated personal fortune of $1.3bn and with two young sons already in the business, the dynasty looks set for the next generation. It seems Langley and
manroland Sheetfed will be part of the print industry for a long time to come.

Comment below to have your say on this story.

If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.  

Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter