The Bradford-based mailing firm was placed in administration earlier this month by owner Kevin Dunstall, six weeks after his business Cogent B2B bought rival Bradford mailing business St Ives Direct Bradford, from St Ives.

A statement from administrator SFP Group said: “Following the previous interim statements, the joint administrators are now pleased to confirm that a going concern sale of Prospect Mailing Services took place to St Ives Direct Bradford (“St Ives”) late on Friday 22 November 2013.

The completion of the sale took place following a marketing campaign, which elicited interest from several parties. After a period of negotiations it was St Ives [Direct Bradford], represented by Kevin Dunstall which was the successful party, with an offer of £400,000. 

"The offer from St Ives [Direct Bradford] was the highest by some distance, representing the maximum return for creditors in this matter.  The completion of the sale has also ensured on-going trading of the established mailing firm and protects those employees retained by the business.

"As a part of the restructuring process, redundancies were regrettably carried out. This was an unavoidable necessity to reduce the overheads previously faced by the business, giving it the best chance of survival going forward in what remain challenging trading conditions.”

Dunstall was unavailable for further comment at the time of writing.