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The Wearside firm described “relentlessly tough competition” in new accounts

Bosses at print and packaging business Encore Group have described a “challenging but eventful year” in new accounts which show a dip in revenue and profits.

The maker of envelopes and packaging for the food, medical and wider retail sectors said it had managed to hang on to the majority of work despite “aggressive” competition and the inability to pass increased overheads on to customers. Newly published accounts for the Washington-based group, covering the year to November 30, 2025, also talk of substantial investment in the business, including the acquisition of a former rival based in the North West.

The documents reveal that deal in June 2025 has given 300-strong Encore bigger market share and strengthened its offer in the stationery envelopes space. Several of Blackburn-based Heritage’s production lines were added to Encore’s Wearside factory to boost capacity.

Further investment went into a 10,000 pallet bay automated warehouse system at the group’s Stephenson Road warehousing site in Peterlee. That location is being used as central hub for the firm’s stationery work.

Encore’s packaging business managed to increase output volume and turnover in 2025, with sales increasing by 1% to £14.3m but overall, turnover fell from £51.2m to £47.2m as operation profit fell from £5.3m to £3.5m. Meanwhile, gross margin reported as a proportion of turnover fell by just under 2% to 23.5% as directors said the loss of margin “perfectly demonstrates the difficult market conditions, in which the group (and most likely all of our competitors) had to sacrifice some gross margin to retain work”.

The group hopes to become a net zero company by 2045 but says that aim has become more challenging with a perceived downgrading of environmental improvements in some parts of society. It said price is the overriding driver of contracts, with “very little” work award on environmental grounds.

Financial director Gary Joyce wrote in the accounts: “The financial year 2025 proved to be a challenging but eventful year for the Encore Group, during which the company faced relentlessly tough competition in both of its main markets. Once again, the group faced the usual aggressive pricing from competitors in both the envelopes and packaging markets that the company operates in.

“However, the company was able to compete to retain a large majority of the volume of work from the prior year. Turnover did contract though, by almost 8% year on year for the second year running. Similarly to 2024, the packaging business did manage to increase output volume and turnover in 2025, sales increasing by 1% to £14.3m.”

Encore says it operates one of Europe’s most modern factories. Having been set up in 1983, the group now produces roughly 2.5bn envelopes a year and produces a range of packaging products for ecommerce, medical and healthcare, food and retail industry customers.

Encore said trading had continued to be challenging in recent months but that it had maintained strong order books for both envelopes and packaging. It said record levels of investment in the last five years had helped it achieve growth.

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Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

LONDON — Queen Camilla has aligned herself firmly with the Princess of Wales rather than with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle following the couple’s return to Britain this week, according to a royal biographer whose account was reported by the Daily Mail and picked up by outlets across the royal-watching press.

Royal author Andrew Lownie said Camilla, who is described as being close to Catherine, Princess of Wales, has been pushing King Charles III to set firmer limits on his dealings with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. “The Queen, who is very close to Kate, has been stiffening the resolve of the King to establish clear boundaries for [Harry and Meghan],” Lownie said, according to the Daily Mail’s reporting. He added that there “remains a great deal of family dissension” over how Charles has handled what he called “the Sussex problem,” pointing also to lingering unhappiness within the family over the King’s handling of the fallout involving Prince Andrew.

Lownie’s comments came just days after Charles and Camilla hosted Harry and Meghan for tea at the King’s Gloucestershire residence, a meeting that had been read by some as a sign of warming relations within the family. But Lownie cautioned that any goodwill on display should not be mistaken for genuine reconciliation, saying Harry should not read the Queen’s composed public demeanor as forgiveness. He said Camilla has grown notably closer to Catherine in the years since Harry and Meghan stepped back from royal duties in 2020, a period commonly referred to as “Megxit,” while remaining guarded toward the King’s younger son and his wife.

Harry and Meghan landed in Birmingham on Wednesday, arriving with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, for what has been widely described as an extended stay in the United Kingdom. British media outlets have reported that the couple’s children have been enrolled at a private school in the country, one of the clearer signals yet that the family’s relocation from their home base in Montecito, California, may not be temporary.

The claims about Camilla’s alignment with Catherine are the latest in a string of similar reports from British and American royal commentators in recent months. Separate reporting from the celebrity magazine Globe, citing unnamed palace insiders, has similarly described tension between Camilla and Catherine over how to handle Harry, alleging that Camilla has expressed frustration that the Princess of Wales has quietly encouraged a path toward reconciliation between Charles and his younger son. Other tabloid reporting, including from the National Examiner, has made similar claims about strain between the two women, though such accounts, sourced to anonymous palace insiders, have not been independently verified and Buckingham Palace does not typically comment on this kind of reporting.

The broader narrative of tension between the royal women has also been shaped by claims in recently published books examining the family’s internal dynamics. Journalist and author Tom Bower, in his book “Betrayal: Power, Deceit and the Fight for the Future of the Royal Family,” has alleged that Camilla once told a friend that Meghan had “brainwashed” Harry, according to extracts published by The Times. That same book reportedly claims Prince William and Catherine came to view Meghan as “a threat” to the family in the period before the Sussexes’ departure from official duties.

Buckingham Palace has not issued a public response to Lownie’s specific claims regarding Camilla’s current stance, and neither the palace nor representatives for Harry and Meghan responded to requests for comment reported alongside the story. Royal commentators have noted that members of the family, including Charles, Camilla, William and Catherine, rarely confirm or deny this type of reporting directly, a longstanding practice within the institution meant to avoid escalating public disputes involving family members.

Harry and Meghan’s relationship with the wider royal family has remained strained since they stepped back from official royal duties in early 2020, a rift that widened further following the couple’s 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey and Harry’s 2023 memoir, “Spare,” both of which included pointed criticism of members of the family. Harry has continued to pursue a legal battle in the United Kingdom over the removal of his taxpayer-funded police protection following his departure from royal duties, a separate dispute that has run alongside the family’s more personal tensions.

Despite the reported friction, this week’s tea meeting between Charles, Camilla, Harry and Meghan has been characterized by some royal watchers as evidence that at least a partial thaw may be underway between Harry and his father, even if broader reconciliation with the rest of the family remains uncertain. Commentators including Lownie have cautioned, however, that any warmth shown during the visit should be read cautiously rather than as a sign that the family’s underlying divisions have been resolved.