The Tunbridge Wells company is the litho printing wing of the £13m turnover Fox Group, and had sales of around £9m.

In a letter to employees seen by Printweek, managing director Kevin Stanton described the situation as “the saddest moment in my working life”.

He said that Fox Marketing Services MC had been hit by a triple-whammy that had proved too much for the firm to continue trading.

In the letter, Stanton explained that a new lease on two business units had been agreed in May 2019, but “due to delays from the landlord, they were not signed prior to the lease expiring. During the last month of the lease, we were advised that the landlord wanted a huge amount of money for dilapidations for the unit that we were moving out of and had also made plans to install a new roof [on an existing unit].”

He said the financial implications of the dilapidations alone would have been very damaging to the business, but the roof issue would have made trading “difficult if not impossible”.

The firm’s existing lease expired on 24 March.

Fox Marketing Services MC had also been dealing with a drop-off in litho volumes, with customers switching some work to digital channels or other printers.

He said unfolding events around the Covid-19 pandemic had proved to be “the killer blow”.

“With a huge amount of our sales coming from the travel industry, it was inevitable that we were going to struggle to generate revenue throughout the pandemic but a drop in sales of over 85% is simply not sustainable,” he stated.

“Clients have stopped placing orders, are cancelling orders and are delaying payments of invoices. This has had a huge impact on cash flow and I personally guaranteed the payment of the wage bill for March 2020. The circumstances that we find ourselves in are unprecedented and are due to external factors beyond anybody’s control."

Fox Marketing Services MS employed around 60 staff and ran a five-colour plus coater Speedmaster XL 106 plus bindery and finishing kit.

Employees were informed that their roles were redundant with immediate effect, as of 14 April.

Fox Group services include high-end printing, direct mail, merchandise, and storage and fulfilment. The group won Printweek’s Customer Service Team of the Year accolade at last year’s Printweek Awards, which Stanton described as “one of the many highs” that he was incredibly proud of at the business, as he thanked employees for their hard work and dedication.

Suppliers to the business expressed shock at the situation. “They made a good profit and have been really healthy as a business,” commented one creditor.

Sister business Fox Managed Solutions, which operates from a separate unit and includes print management and direct mail, continues to trade and is not part of the liquidation. However, most of its 27 employees have been furloughed due to the virus crisis and the firm is operating with a skeleton staff.

Printweek understands that Compass FRI and MFW Insolvency & Recovery are handling the liquidation.

The situation regarding the likely available funds for creditors is not yet clear.

Stanton also said he and the firm's remaining directors would do all that they could to find alternative employment within the industry "for as many members of staff as possible".

The company's other director is Kevin Steele. Philip Exall resigned as a director of the company on 24 March.