Media group scores with Liverpool deal

A media company based in the North East has won a £200,000 contract to print Liverpool Football Club’s matchday programme.

HPM Group, a 100-year-old firm based in Newton Aycliffe Business, has produced Middlesbrough’s matchday magazine since the 1980s and over the years has also printed them for Newcastle United, West Ham and Aston Villa.

The company, which employs 45 staff and has an annual turnover of £4.5m a year, currently prints the matchday magazines for Sunderland, Boro and Notts County as well as several Rugby League clubs.

It also lists firms such as PWS, Wynyard Hall, Durham University and UEFA among its clients.

Depending on how many home cup games Liverpool have this season, the Liverpool deal could be worth in excess of £200,000 for HPM.

Managing director Richard Mortimer said: “It’s prestigious for us. We’re producing 15-16,000 programmes every game for Liverpool, which is a very nice print run for us, so it’s prestigious as opposed to game-changing for the company.”

Phil Wilson, the Labour MP for Sedgefield, visited the premises of HPM recently to visit staff and see how a match programme is produced – from the design, to the plating, to the printing and folding.

“The technology is just so far advanced now. Some of the printing machinery they have is some of the best in the world,” he said at the time.

“It was an eye-opener to see how the programmes are put together, and as a Boro fan it’s great to see theirs being produced in my Constituency.

HPM was the first company to reside on Park 2000 at Heighington Lane Business Park in Aycliffe when they relocated there from Bishop Auckland in 2000, with a certain Tony Blair opening its HQ.