Ripping Image, based in Feltham, closed its doors on 2 June, with Julie Anne Palmer and Andrew Hook of Begbies Traynor (Central) subsequently appointed as liquidators on 19 July. Six jobs were lost as a result of the closure.

The business specialised in short to medium-run event marketing material.

It was formed in 1993 and subsequently moved to larger premises, where it invested in upgraded printing machinery, improving its capacity for larger runs. It continued to trade successfully until lockdown restrictions were imposed in March 2020.

Prior to the pandemic, the company’s monthly turnover stood at around £90,000, but this fell to less than £25,000 in the early stages of lockdown.

Despite help from the furlough scheme, a government-backed Bounce Back Loan, and a customer base which liquidators said had remained loyal, Ripping Image emerged from the pandemic in reduced form, and work then continued to fall due to the slowdown in the economy.

Liquidators said a determined effort was made to return to profitability following the pandemic, but a combination of Brexit and the Ukraine war that saw the cost of raw materials, energy, and transport rise dramatically hit the company’s profit margins and orders continued to decline in the final quarter of 2022.

Hook, partner at Begbies Traynor, said: “The printing market is clearly in decline, and the company was unlikely to generate the volume of work needed to avoid further losses. It had gone into this year in an already weak financial position, and matters deteriorated further when a number of the larger customer projects in the pipeline were delayed.”

Ripping Image’s phone number now goes straight to voicemail while its website is now down.

Its statement of affairs, filed on Companies House earlier this month, revealed that its estimated total deficiency was £441,468.