According to its third-quarter report, the Begbies Traynor-backed Red Flag found that 570 companies in the sector experienced "significant" problems in the quarter.

This compares to 795 in the same quarter of 2010, down 28%. However, 505 companies reported significant problems in the second quarter of 2011, highlighting in a deterioration in trading between Q2 and Q3 this year.

Red Flag also collated statistics for companies reporting "critical" problems, with 53 print and packaging businesses in a critical state, compared with 63 in the third quarter of 2010, a 16% drop.

This compares to an overall increase across all sectors of 23% year-on-year, and according to the report, companies with critical financial problems have liabilities of £62.5bn.

According to the report, companies with significant problems are those with either a court action and/or poor, very poor, insolvent or out-of-date accounts. Companies with critical problems are those with CCJs totalling £5,000 or more and/or wind-up petition related actions.