The Pontypool-based firm, which employed 113 staff and had sales of £10.1m in the year ending 31 March 2014, ceased trading last Friday (29 August) with staff sent home.
A statement from the company said that its directors had requested that Deloitte assist them to convene a meeting of members and creditors.
The statement said that despite a history of strong profitability, the business had been suffering from reduced revenues and margins in the past two years due to overcapacity in the industry.
The statement said: “As profitability reduced, the group had difficulty in meeting its commitments in respect of leased plant and machinery. Trading deteriorated further in the past six months such that the Group no longer had sufficient funds to meet its liabilities as they fell due leading to the decision to cease trading.
“Over the past two years, the group and its advisors had made a number of attempts to sell the business in order to ensure that it remained as a going concern. However, these attempts failed to generate any meaningful interest. Furthermore, negotiations with the group’s lenders and lease creditors were not able to yield a restructuring of the group’s liabilities.”
A creditor, who wished to remain anonymous, told PrintWeek: “Our first experience of difficulty was on 15 August when the bank bounced back a direct debit. This was the first time it had happened in three years so it was something of a surprise.”
“After that happened, MWL’s production department was continually pressing us to let them place orders in that past two weeks but the director wouldn’t return our calls.”
PrintWeek understands that a buyer that had shown interest in acquiring the firm in a possible pre-pack deal had pulled out at the last minute.
In 2004 the firm, which was established in 1973, was bought in a management buy-out (MBO) by Paul Foster, James Sexton and Paul Aubrey, who remained in charge until the company’s closure on Friday.
The company’s customers included Sharp, Panasonic and Johnson & Johnson and government organisations including The Patent Office, Ofsted and Department for Transport.
