Planet Repro directors have placed the company into administration with BDO Stoy Hayward after struggling to repay creditors.


BDO Stoy Hayward account manager Tracey Pye said: There have been 16 redundancies from a workforce of 65. Were looking to sell the business as a going concern, and it continues to trade.


Pye added that the packaging pre-press firm, which operates from two Liverpool-based sites and one Slough facility, had experienced cashflow problems.


There has been some interest. Even at this early stage weve sent out quite a number of information packs to interested parties. But really its too early to tell if well be successful selling it as a going concern, she said.


In 1999 the 3m-turnover company invested 50,000 in a 100m Slough design studio, equipped with G3 Apple Macs, (PrintWeek, 8 October 1999) in a bid to expand as well as service its major packaging and design sector clients.


The Slough studio provides 3D mock-ups for packaging on any substrate.


At the time joint managing directors Michael Furlong and Kenneth Graves expected sales at its southern site to double to 300,000 within a year of opening.


BDO Stoy Hayward placed an advert in the Financial Times in which it said the firm had a strong order book and a well-established client base of predominantly blue chip clients.


In 1999 Planet Repro failed to record its turnover, but listed a pre-tax loss of 375,000. In 1998 it had a pre-tax profit of 135,000 on a turnover of 2.87m.


Story by John Davies