Founded on March 28th, 2012, Westcolour was founded by director of the company, James Ward, who up till that point had spent his career in the web offset printing sector. After seeing several companies close, including the one he worked for, Ward felt there was the space to create a new print management business – and so Westcolour was born. 14 years later and Westcolour is providing print and eco-mailing solutions by eliminating plastic from as much of its supply chain as possible. Last year the company invested in a HP PageWide Advantage 2200, which was part of a larger expansion initiative within the company. To find out more about how Westcolour operates, and how it sees itself in the market, we speak to Ward, who gives insight into this growing company. Manoeuvring a Changing Market Westcolour was set up by Ward with the support of long-standing customers and friends, who gave their “trust and backing” in order for Ward to start something new. Since 2012, Ward says: “We’ve evolved from a print management company trusted Following a raft of investments, and a renewed energy in the industry for print and mailing, we speak to Westcolour about how the company positions itself in the market and how it has evolved to be a provider of paper wrapped products Being Flexible and Making Fast Decisions COMPANY SPOTLIGHT | WESTCOLOUR 2012 – Westcolour was founded on March 28th, 2012 57 – The company currently employs 57 members of staff 80,000sq ft – Two of the company’s three sites equate to 80,000sq ft in size £12.3m – Westcolour made an annual turnover of £12.3m from 2024 to 2025 Statistics by household names like Slimming World and Bentley Motors into one of the UK’s leading mailing and paper wrapping providers.” A turning point for the business came in 2016, as Ward explains: “When tasked with sourcing a company to wrap a million items per month, we couldn’t find anyone in the UK, so we entered the mailing and wrapping market ourselves.” Following this transition, Andrew Bowden, a long-standing friend and leader to Ward joined the business, and in 2018 Westcolour partnered with Walstead Print Group and established the Bicester “supersite” which marked a major milestone for the company. In a short space of time, Westcolour says that its “three lines become nine”, and it grew to where it is today, producing over 500 monthly and 60 weekly subscription and shelf magazine titles. The company's website states that the business has ten wrapping lines, able to fulfil various newsstand offerings along with mailed packs 31 www.printmonthly.co.uk Issue 359 - March | April 2026
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