mergers & acquisitions 
Dunedin’s largest printing company, Wickliffe Ltd is set to shed up to 170 staff over two years before it closes its doors when most of the reel-fed printing company’s work moves to Auckland. The firm says that as many as 150 jobs in Dunedin will go following the company’s purchase of Auckland-based Moore Gallagher Ltd’s printing operation.

Moore Gallagher is splitting its business and selling its mail operation to NZ Post subsidiary Data Mail Ltd.

Chief executive Ewan Soper says Wickliffe has bought the shares in Moore Gallagher Ltd’s printing business as a solution to its Dunedin accommodation problem and to extend its business at a time when the use and supply of the forms is declining.

Wickliffe sold its central Dunedin premises to Dunedin City Council three years ago but had been leasing them back. The need to find new premises at the end of the lease in 2008 and to upgrade machinery used for printing business forms was really what was behind the shift of printing to Auckland, Mr Soper says.

"The reality is, it was very difficult to make a relocation (in Dunedin) pay. Reel-fed buildings have very specific specifications which are unique and expensive to construct in today’s property market. Moore Gallagher is a traditional reel-fed printer and their building is compatible with our operation.

"Otherwise we would have had to commit to staying in this building for the next 15-18 years, and this was a big call to make to print a product which is nearing the end of its life."

Wickliffe will retain a sales and service office in Dunedin plus a smaller A3 print shop and possibly its digital operation, but most of the 75 printing jobs and up to 70 other positions will be lost.

"We might retain 20 to 30 jobs here but at this stage that is a fairly wild estimate," he says.

Distribution centres in Wellington and Auckland will not be affected.