The specialist printer went into administration earlier this month and Tom Straw and Simon Thomas of Moorfields Advisory were appointed as joint administrators.

Asset valuation, advisory and disposal business European Valuations is overseeing the sale of approximately 180 lots on behalf of the administrators.

They include various Heidelberg machines: a Speedmaster 72 ZP 520x720mm two-colour perfector, a GT foil blocking platen, a 360x520mm single-colour offset press, a 480x650mm two-colour offset press and an SBG 560x770mm cutting and creasing cylinder.

Also up for sale is a Screen Platerite platesetter, a Premier 115 M5 CCM guillotine and a raft of other specialist print and finishing kit, office furniture and other sundry equipment.

European Valuations plant and machinery valuer Joe Hall told Printweek the kit has all been properly shut down and decommissioned and that interest for some of the assets has already been received, mostly from the UK but also Europe.

Viewings of the assets can be arranged strictly by appointment at Cem Press’s premises at the Victoria Business Park in Nottingham on Tuesday 4 February.

The lots will begin to close in staggered intervals from 10am on Thursday 6 February with the final lot set to close later that day. Kit should be collected from the site by winning bidders between Monday 10 and Friday 14 February.

Based in Nottingham, 50-year-old Cem Press manufactured wallpaper books, fabric books and fabric swatch cards for the textiles and home interior industry. Its clients included Beaumont & Fletcher, Cole & Son, Designers Guild, DG Royal Collection, Paul Smith and Sandersons.

The administrators said the company’s trade suffered “as competition increased and the industry evolved”.

The company’s parent, industrial holding company CEPS PLC, also owned an 80% stake in Loughborough-based Sunline Direct Mail, which was placed in administration in June 2018.