A letter to creditors, seen by PrintWeek, from insolvency practitioner Griffin & King stated that in a meeting of the board of ABC’s directors held on 11 July, the company had been instructed to “convene meetings of members and creditors with a view to placing the company into liquidation”.

The meeting of creditors will take place on 3 August.

In a short statement, ABC managing director Mike Greene said: "The directors of ABC acknowledge there are some difficulties within the business and have taken professional advice. This advice has led to looking at the option of liquidation. 

"Going forward the directors are extremely positive that their staff, their clients and supportive suppliers will benefit from this unfortunate situation with the options that the directors are considering."

At this stage it's unclear what options the directors are considering, but speaking prior to issuing the statement, Greene denied speculation that the company was planning a pre-pack deal and described the current situation as a "restructure".

A note in ABC Print’s last set of abbreviated accounts, posted on Companies House for the year ending 31 October 2015, stated that “due to ongoing significant downturn in trade and the company’s ongoing financial commitments, the directors are currently considering the future of the company”.

Further details are unavailable at this time.

In October 2014, the then 28-staff company replaced its 10-colour B3 Heidelberg press with a Ryobi 924 SRA1 press with four-colour LED-UV, supplied by Apex Digital Graphics, moving the company into SRA1 printing for the first time.

A source close to the company said: "They went from B3 perfecting to straight printing SRA1, which seemed very odd, but it's the sort of company that you'd imagine should be doing well and thriving."