End of the line for TSB

German gravure printer TSB will close its doors at the end of the month.

Mönchengladbach-based Tiefdruck Schwann-Bagel, which is known as TSB, filed for insolvency at the end of February.

This week, court-appointed provisional insolvency administrator Dr Markus Kier of law firm Piepenburg Rechtsanwälte told the workforce that no buyer or new investment was available, and the company would have to close.

Dr Kier stated: “Our review of the company's economic situation since the beginning of the process has unfortunately confirmed that the challenges for TSB to operate in a sustainable manner without external support are too great.

“In particular, inadequate prices and high costs leave us no other option than to initiate the closure now.”

The firm’s 155 remaining employees will be laid off.

Dr Kier praised the workforce for their professionalism during such a difficult period: “We very much regret this tough step, especially given that the employees have shown great performance and commitment in the past few weeks.

“They deserve the highest recognition and appreciation for this.”

France’s Riccobono Group became Europe’s biggest gravure printer when it took over TSB in the autumn of 2023.

The company restructured and reduced the number of gravure presses TSB ran from six to four.

The business subsequently hit the buffers, and Riccobono claimed it had been misinformed about TSB’s financial situation at the time of the acquisition.

TSB specialised in high-volume catalogues, magazines and advertising materials with run lengths that could be in the millions.

However, the European publication and commercial gravure market is in structural decline with long-run work dwindling, and multiple gravure sites shuttered as a result including Prinovis in the UK.