Grant Thornton UK partners Alastair Wardell and Daniel Smith were appointed joint administrators of CPC Packaging UK and its operating subsidiaries yesterday (25 August).

The administrators said the appointment followed "a difficult period" for the group, during which it suffered a fire in December 2008 at its King's Lynn, Norfolk, business that affected operations "for some time".

High raw material prices over the course of the past year also impacted profitability at the business, it was claimed.

Wardell said: "The administrators and their team need to quickly ascertain whether there is a possibility that some or all of the business can be sold.

"The Bristol site will continue production in the short term to satisfy customer demands, while purchasers for the business are sought."

He added that the 95 redundancies had taken place mainly at the company's King's Lynn site, which accounts for the majority of staff there, and that the business would be marketed as a turnkey operation.

News of the administration comes after staff were sent home from the two sites on Monday and yesterday.

When PrintWeek contacted CPC Packaging, a spokeswoman for the business said the company's bank, RBS, had withdrawn funding. RBS could not be reached for comment.

Simon Rothschild, a spokesman for Grant Thornton, said the company had not been trading well but added that some work was still in progress at the company's Bristol site. 

According to accounts filed at Companies House, combined staff at the two sites in 2008 was 162.

Turnover for the year ending 31 December 2008 at CPC King's Lynn was £12.3m, on which it made a pre-tax loss of £642,000.

CPC Bristol's turnover for the same year was £11.4m with a pre-tax loss of £188,000.

CPC Packaging UK is part of the Paris-based Groupe CPC, which had a total turnover in the UK of just less than £24m in 2008, the last year for which it filed full accounts.

Groupe CPC has sites in France, Germany and Russia, and is understood not be affected by the administration of the UK business.

Meanwhile, CPC Packaging UK's former director and general manager Chris Dew, who left the business in July, has recently announced on business networking site LinkedIn that he has joined Clondalkin Group as managing director of UK labels.