'Asset stripping' and 'willy waving' among the jibes levelled at Opus Trust Communications after the firm announces closure of its Nottingham site
The trade journal Print Week’s journalist Richard Stuart-Turner has reported on the decision by the Omnichannel communications specialist Opus Trust Communications to close its Nottingham site and to consolidate its operation in Huddersfield.
Some may see the long shadow of Polestar in the background as the Opus Trust acquired Adare who occupied the site who previously had taken over Polestar Applied Solutions – one of the last parts of the once might company. However, judging by the comments section under the article posted online the main talking point was the about the time Opus Trust took over the site and their comments on the future of the Nottingham business.
When Opus took over Adare in November 2021 their CEO Tony Strong spoke of expanding their operation putting the company at the ‘top of the mid-tier table.’ The acquisition also meant the workforce rose from 180 to 530. Richard Stuart-Turner quoted Tony Strong at the time as saying: ““With complementary specialisms, we are now a much larger and more resilient business, but we don’t want to lose sight of our values or our wider ambitions. Our focus is to become the largest and best transactional communications partner in the UK market.”
Instead in the cold light of 2022’s economic climate the company has chosen to close the Nottingham plant later this year meaning redundancies are very likely prompting a backlash of comments about the latest news.
As one commentator put it: “Back in the day when I was a boy 128 years ago, it was called 'Asset Stripping'. Now, the modern phraseology is 'review our operating model in line with volume demand to ensure we are operating optimally and in line with strategic objectives, whilst delivering cost efficiencies that enable us to offer our clients best-in-market pricing. Unfortunately for the workers, whichever way you cut the salami, it's still just asset stripping.”
Or rather more prosaically another wrote on the Print Week site with regards the bullish announcements by Opus in November it was: “Willy waving, chest puffing, ego feeding.”
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For details for the work of the journalist Harry Mottram visit www.harrymottram.co.uk