The European folding carton and packaging supplier said it could not incur further costs that would be involved in winding up the company over and above the capital already made available, so it had applied for administration.

However, chief executive Per Lundeen was confident that the administrator would be able to find a viable structure for the business. For our part, we are open to a solution whereby we will be able to continue with a part of the operations in order to serve our customers.

A&R acquired the already loss-making plant from FCP in January 2000, but Lundeen had expected to turn the situation around. We have made significant cash injections and have now reached a point where we cannot continue to support the company by injecting still more capital, he said.

Despite investment over the last three years, the company had increasingly lost money. Although it ranked 101 in PrintWeeks Top 500 2002 with sales of over 22m, its pre-tax losses had grown to 3.7m in 2000 from 1m in 1999.

The firm announced in April that it was withdrawing from general carton manufacturing with the loss of 50 of its 200 jobs (PrintWeek, 11 April). A further 50 jobs have since gone.

GPMU Central Midlands officer Kevin Hepworth said the April restructuring was a direct result of supermarket pressure and overcapacity.