The business had a conversion facility near Brentwood in Essex and offices in St Albans, together with additional facilities in Antwerp.

Administrators Paul Cooper and Paul Appleton of David Rubin & Partners were appointed joint administrators on 8 October.

The reasons for the administration were not clear. Printweek was unable to reach Aspenlink chief executive Jeremy Spring for comment at the time of writing. The firm's website has been taken down and the phone line rings out. 

Spring had described Aspenlink as trading with “a diverse range of customers and suppliers in packaging and graphic printing sectors in many countries”.

Aspenlink’s accounts were overdue at Companies House. In its previous abbreviated filing, for the year to 31 December 2017, the firm posted a big increase in creditors at the balance sheet date, with the figure rising from £3.5m to just under £9.4m. It had stocks of nearly £2.9m and more than £6.6m of debtors.

An industry source said that paper stocks had been cleared from the Aspenlink facility at Childerditch Industrial Park, with only machinery left at the site.

Spring’s son Jayden set up a new company with the same registered office, Aspenlink Holdings, this time last year.

Jeremy Spring set up Aspenlink in 2001. Prior to that he was joint managing director at Capital Paper International.