The flexible packaging firm and its non-trading parent, Parkside International, went into administration with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Leeds on 23 December.

The move came less than a week after sister firm Parkside Performance Films, which employed around 400 staff, began a controlled winding-down on 17 December.

Joint administrator Edward Klempka said: "We have expressions of interest already and we're hopeful that we will sell it as a going concern. The early signs are encouraging."

He declined to reveal who was interested in buying the 36m-turnover company, which serves the tobacco and food industries.

Klempka added that interest has also been shown in Parkside Poland, the Polish subsidiary of Parkside International which
is otherwise unaffected by the developments in the group.

Parkside Performance Films in Barnsley stopped printing before Christmas and is currently selling off stock. Some 190 staff were made redundant immediately, with a further 200 jobs to go by the end of the month.

Story by Josh Brooks