David Broadbent and Lee Lockwood of Begbies Traynor were appointed as administrators of the Aycliffe-based business last Friday (4 December). The company, which has a turnover of around £3m, closed its doors immediately and 28 staff were made redundant.

Bob Maxwell, a partner at Begbies Traynor, told PrintWeek: “In common with a lot of other printers, the net margins Addo Printing were able to earn were very low.

“Unfortunately, a lot of print businesses fail because the net margins are insufficient to meet their liabilities and interest cost, and that’s why this one has failed.”

Administrators are looking to sell the firm's assets, which Maxwell said will go on the market later this week.

Exact details of the assets available are as yet unknown but they do not include the firm’s building, which Maxwell said was rented.

PrintWeek understands the firm operated machinery including two B2 Heidelberg Speedmaster SM 74s, a 10-colour and a five-colour, a Muller Martini perfect binder, an MBO folder and a Duplo System 5000 bookletmaker.

Addo Printing’s website is currently redirecting to Doncaster-based commercial printer Expert Print.

Expert Print managing director Barry Pearson told PrintWeek the company has bought Addo Printing’s domain name from the domain name holder, and taken on the firm’s managing director Keiran Bayley as a salesperson, but otherwise has no ties to the business.

“I’ve not bought any of the company’s assets and there’s no contract in place so there’s no goodwill to be had,” said Pearson.

“As the firm is in administration I asked Keiran if the website was available and he said yes so I purchased it from the person that owned the domain name. The domain will get some traffic when people search and I can take odd customers.”

He added: “Keiran had struggled for so long and just came to me and said he needed a job. He’s got customers and wants to continue his work as a rep.”

Bayley will work from an office based in Darlington that Expert Print already owned.

Bayley had bought HPM & Addo out of administration in November last year after he raised finance to buy the company’s assets in a pre-pack deal.

He renamed the company Addo Printing, also the name of his original company that had merged with HPM (Hill Print Media) to form HPM & Addo six months earlier.