Packaging
Dutch packaging printer Royal De Vries closes after 152 years
Monday 24. August 2026 - After 152 years the folding-carton plant of Royal De Vries Cardboardprinting in Sneek (Netherlands) has ceased production. No buyer was found for the business as a whole. The German plant remarketing specialist Allaoui has acquired all assets and is offering them for sale, including a KBA offset press as well as Bobst and MK Masterwork converting equipment.
Royal De Vries (Koninklijke Drukkerij De Vries Vouwkartonnage B.V.) started in 1874 as a printing house in the northern Netherlands. Over the twentieth century it became a leading folding-carton producer for national and international brands. In 2016 the company received the Dutch royal designation.
In 2021 De Vries installed a seven-colour Koenig & Bauer Rapida 106 with double coater. In 2024 investments in end-of-line automation followed. However, by the end of 2024, the business was in loss. Turnover fell from EUR 28.3 million in 2023 to EUR 24.3 million in 2025, with a loss of EUR 3.1 million.
According to majority shareholder FB Oranjewoud Participaties, which took control in 2018, a 2025 reorganisation led to quality and delivery problems, and customers moved work elsewhere. The problems were fixed, but the revenue did not return. De Vries filed for bankruptcy on 15 June 2026 and was declared bankrupt in Leeuwarden the next day.
Administrator Christian Geffroy of Dommerholt Advocaten kept the plant running until 31 July to deliver open orders and keep the business intact for a buyer. He sought a purchaser for the operation as a whole and negotiated with several interested parties, but no agreement was reached in time. The plant closed, and all 98 employees lost their jobs.
“Intensive efforts were made to arrange a going concern, and it is regrettable that this could not be achieved,” Geffroy said. “Once that outcome could no longer be pursued, the priority became a swift realisation of the assets in the creditors’ interest. Allaoui was able to make a competitive offer for all assets on short notice.”
The equipment is now coming to market. It includes the 2021 KBA Rapida 106 offset press, a Bobst Expertfold 110 A2, a Bobst Visioncut 106 LER and various die-cutters, folder-gluers and packaging automation equipment