St Ives sells magazine printing arm to rival

St Ives has agreed to sell its loss-making magazine printing business – whose clients include Time Out, Vogue and The Economist – to the private equity firm Walstead Investments for £20m.

Walstead was set up in 2008 specifically to buy Wyndeham Press, which prints magazines including Marie Claire, Waitrose Food Illustrated and Zoo.

St Ives also prints books in the Harry Potter and Chronicles of Narnia series, and will still own the magazine printing plants in Peterborough, Plymouth and Roche in Cornwall, which it will lease to the new owners. The magazine business, which employs 670 people, made a pre-tax loss of £5.1m in the year to July.