Manchester-based Excel Publishing, a long-running client of Buxton’s, called in administrators on 23 December and officially appointed Andrew Poxon and John Titley of Leonard Curtis last week.

Further details are currently unclear. A statement issued by Buxton Press to PrintWeek confirmed the acquisition but said that management could make no further comment at this stage.

Excel Publishing, which was founded in 1991, publishes a range of print titles and associated websites across the business, housing, construction, medical, sport and public sectors. It also has app and website development, email marketing and event operations.

The company’s most recent abbreviated accounts for the year ending 31 December on Companies House show its net liabilities as £548,470 in the red.

According to media reports the business employs between 45 and 60 members of staff headed by co-founder and managing director Pat Rafter who took control of the firm in 2013 when he bought out his co-founder Martin Regan and then chairman Pat Quinn.

Derbyshire-based Buxton Press, which won the PrintWeek Company of the year award for the fourth time in 2016, produces 650 regular titles for more than 400 publishers. It runs four Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 106 B1 long perfectors each with CutStar, in eight- and 10-colour formats, and three stitching lines.

Last year, the 124-staff operation turned over £17.6m