The new recruits have joined Middleton Paper and its Vision Paper & Board division.

Steve Bedworth, who was general manager at M6 Paper, becomes commercial manager at Middleton Paper where he is charged with bringing his sales and conversion expertise to the firm’s offering.

Former Lunnons managing director Barry Fowler, who was at the helm of the business when it was sold to Robert Horne in 1992, becomes regional key accounts director for the South East at Vision Paper & Board.

Daniel Brown, previously regional sales manager for graphic and carton board at Paperlinx, becomes key account manager covering the North of England also at Vision Paper & Board.

And Paul Tooby, who as branch sales manager at Paperlinx’s East Midlands operation, has also just joined the firm as key accounts and new business manager at Vision Paper & Board.

In addition, Middleton has taken on Andy Wall as transport and warehouse coordinator. His experience in warehouse management includes roles at Amazon and Dreams.

The Walsall-headquartered company has also taken on other new staff in scheduling, and conversion and distribution, and is still on the lookout for additional inside and outside sales specialists.

Commercial director Ian Pentland said the business had seen a “huge increase” in enquiries and sales since the Paperlinx UK administration. “We had more than 20% growth in coated sheet sales in April, and I’m just waiting to see the May figures. We’re going to be adding additional storage facilities both in the Midlands and South East imminently,” he said.

“We’re putting 6,000 tonnes of paper and board into stock, and some of that will be stored in the South East,” Pentland added.

Last autumn the business announced a multi-million pound investment in new and upgraded sheeting facilities, to enable the firm to handle larger, heavier sheets. 

Pentland also noted that the firm was experiencing the predicted post-Paperlinx credit squeeze. “We are seeing insurance companies looking at limits on a daily basis.”

Middleton has also just added APP’s Extraprint uncoated woodfree brand to its range.

Middleton Paper is the largest company in the £70m turnover family-owned Middleton Group, which has operations spanning cash and carry, food products and property. The group employs around 300 staff in total.

The business sells around 72,000 tonnes of paper and board a year.