Insolvency practitioner Zolfo Cooper Europe was appointed as administrator to the £9.3m-turnover, Warrington-based printer last week, making 28 redundancies from the 80 staff.

It continued to trade the business as a going concern, before selling it yesterday afternoon (15 September) to Cheshire-based APS Group, which has an annual turnover of £30m.

Administrator Graham Wild said: "We are delighted to announce that we have completed the sale of the business and assets of Philip Myers to APS Group. We would like to thank all employees, customers and suppliers for their support during the administration and wish APS every success for the future."

APS managing director Nick Snelson said: "We recognise the quality and the capability of this important supply chain partner. In these difficult and challenging times, it makes good business sense for organisations to come together in order to be able to develop new and value-added opportunities for all of our customers.

"There is a good fit between our two companies and I have every confidence that the combined strengths of the service offering will add significant value for customers in the future. Philip Myers is highly regarded in the market as a quality operation with an excellent workforce that will bring additional strengths to the APS team."

Kim Naylor, managing director of Philip Myers, added:  "It has been an apprehensive time for everyone involved with the company: our employees, our customers and our suppliers, and I am delighted that negotiations with APS have been concluded successfully.

"APS is a financially strong company with a good track record of winning new accounts and retaining existing ones, which can give us confidence in the future."

The two companies have worked together since 2003 and it was speculated that APS Group was looking to purchase Philip Myers last month. One local printer told PrintWeek: "To be honest, I thought they had already bought it."

The deal does not affect Philip Myers Web, which is based in Neston.