One of two Australian newspaper and web operations set to close in less than a month has been saved. Sydney-based Access Print Group has saved Cadillac Printing from closure, trade magazine PrintWeek has reported.
Adelaide contract web printer Cadillac Printing, which had been owned by Wellcom boss Wayne Sidwell, announced that it would shut up shop rather than face the expense of relocating following the expiry of its lease in North Plympton. Now Access, which bought Adelaide-based Graphic Print last year, will rebrand it as GraphicWeb.
In Yanchep, Western Australia, the Sun City News and Yanchep Times have ceased publication after Sun City Publishing went into liquidation.
Owner Terry Loftus had been looking for a buyer for the business at $220,000, and Sun City News' website announces that it will not appear "due to a family illness".
Established in 1997, it is understood to have had a staff of seven and annual turnover of $3.8 million. Liquidators are Mackay Goodwin.
Established in the 1960s, Cadillac is a privately-owned heatset printer of which Sidwell bought first a half share, and then the remaining interest for a reported $3 million in 2010. Sidwell runs Wellcom Group, which operates internationally as a premedia and print management business.
It was associated with the interests of Roger Baynes, whose father founded Adelaide's Messenger suburban newspapers series before taking Murdoch-owned Advertiser Newspapers as a partner. On the death of Roger Baynes senior, Advertiser called its option to acquire the remaining shares. Of that history, only a street name (Baynes Place) now remains.