SCARBOROUGH printing business G A Pindar & Son, and its subsidiaries Pindar plc and Pindar Print, have today appointed administrators and sold part of the business to York Mailing.

Pindar, which employs 432 staff, has so far made no redundancies and 255 jobs have been safeguarded by the sale of the trade and assets of Pindar’s web offset printing and bindery division to Elvington-based York Mailing.

The Pindar group also comprises Agility, a software provider employing 42 people in York, as well as a confidential printing business in Scarborough, which employs 47 people, a sheet-fed print solutions business based in Preston and a cartography business in Aylesbury.

Mark Firmin, joint administrator, said: “In the respect of the other businesses, we are actively seeking buyers and are continuing to speak to a number of interested parties.”

Pindar, which has been printing in Scarborough for more than 175 years, will continue to operate from its Scarborough site.

York Mailing now hopes become one of Europe’s leading retail printing businesses.

Chris Ingram, chief executive of York Mailing and Mike Newbould, managing director, said the combination of York Mailing with Pindar would allow them to offer a greater breadth of services to existing customers and benefit from complementary technical expertise.

They said in a statement: “This is an excellent opportunity to combine two of the UK’s largest businesses in this sector, whilst ensuring the survival of the historic Pindar name. We are delighted to welcome the Pindar printing business into York Mailing and look forward to growing the business in this competitive marketplace.”

Accountants Grant Thornton advised York Mailing on the transaction and Lupton Fawcett provided legal advice.