Tyrone Courtman and Nick Edwards of business advisory firm Cooper Parry were appointed as administrators of the digital printing machine and printhead manufacturer on Monday (24 August).
The administrators are currently seeking offers for substantially the whole of the Coventry-based firm’s business and assets, with a view to concluding a sale by Monday (31 August). They said expressions of interest are to be made as soon as possible due to the "current financial position of the group".
Privately funded LumeJet, which was founded in 2010, develops photonic platform technology for inkless printing and patterning applications.
A statement from the administrators said key features of the company include a team of 10 key individuals, five printers in stock, two in build and significant customer interest in the UK and Europe, as well as assets including patents and trading company assets stock and plant.
The company is also said to be in a development phase for UV printheads for ‘maskless’ patterning and PhotoInk technology for high-speed labeling and packaging. It is anticipating future revenue of around £15m per annum.
According to Companies House, four company directors – David Lambert, Miles Bentley, Paul Anson and Jeremy Luckett – had their appointments terminated between March and May this year.
The administrators claimed the company had sold four of its flagship LumeJet S200 photonic digital printers to date, although PrintWeek had reported six sales of the device, to London-based Clicks (which bought two), Barnard & Westwood, Altaimage and TG Print & Design and Darlington-based Sense Creative.
The £150,000 S200 can be used to produce pitch books, fine art prints, photobooks and personal publishing.
The inkless technology features LumeJet’s patented Digital Print Head (DPH), and works in a similar way to an inkjet using light, rather than ink, to make tiny dots on photosensitive media.
LumeJet Holdings had a going concern note on its most recent abbreviated accounts, for the year to 31 December 2013.
The auditor stated: “Current conditions indicate the existence of a material uncertainty which may cast doubt over the recoverability of the balances within the balance sheet.”
This included debtors of £6.1m falling due after more than one year, while the aggregate share capital and reserves of subsidiary Lumejet Ltd was minus £5.5m with a £1.9m loss listed against the subsidiary.
Last year the business became the first crowdfunded digital machine and printhead manufacturer after it launched a funding project on the CrowdBnk platform. Its investment target was £1.47m and £1.5m was raised through the platform.
The company offered 20% of its share equity for £1,471,158 – valuing the business at the time at £7.4m. In total just over £1.5m was raised from 18 investors.
Also last year, the firm presented at Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street, when it was selected as one of the 10 most promising digital companies in Britain.
Administrators were unavailable for further comment at the time of writing.
