Insolvency specialist Tenon is currently in talks with the business, but is yet to be officially appointed. The business is expected to be liquidated rather than sold as a going concern.

Former VCS subsidiary Abbotts was bought out of administration last year by TWRM Print, a company formed for the buyout and owned by Rhodes Printing directors Mark Ward, Michael Taylor and Chris Roberts, as well as Portobello Press director Peter Murtagh.

Murtagh resigned as a director in December and has no ties with the business.

In an e-mail seen by PrintWeek from Ward, Taylor and Roberts to Abbotts manager David Bryan, the directors said that talks with an unnamed investor had failed and that Tenon had been "engaged in a liquidation process".

Lutterworth-based Abbotts' turnover was £4.5m for the year ending 30 June 2007, with a £34,800 profit for the same period.