Generational change occurs in family print business

by Catherine Woods - Tuesday, 11th March 2008 -

Entrepreneur Gary Mahoney moved Charterhouse from manufacturing to broking when he took over the family print business after his father retired.

“My father started Charterhouse in 1969 as a manufacturing company based in London and dealing with the advertising agencies,” Mahoney says. “The agencies, from the 60’s until the early 90’s, bought most of the print from us for the clients they were doing creative for.

“My father retired probably about ten years ago. As that happened, I moved the company away from manufacturing to broking where we outsourced for the agencies at the time.

“The reason for the switch was the agencies were looking for people to run whole campaigns rather than just do the work that sat on the presses.”

Mahoney wasn't groomed from an early age to take over from his father. He trained as an accountant then travelled overseas, returning to take a job at Charterhouse as a salesman.

He admits Charterhouse is less of a family business now his father no longer owns any of the company but Mahoney's passion for print remains undiminished.

“I want to keep the business moving forward,” he says. “I think there’s a great deal of opportunity in the UK but there are also substantial opportunities in Europe.

“We’re looking to increase the turnover by 20 per cent over the next 12 months up to £85m.”

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