Andrew Davidson and Colin Dempster of Ernst & Young were appointed joint receivers of Glasgow-based Beith on Monday (4 August).

In a statement, Ernst & Young said: "As a result of a significant drop in customer orders and due to the current economic climate the company has been placed into receivership.

"It has unfortunately been necessary to make the majority of the workforce redundant. Six key staff have been retained to assist with the wind down of operations."

The decision to close the business was made following a review and discussion with the directors, at which it was decided that it was not financially viable to continue to trade the business in the short term.

The receivers are now exploring the potential for a sale of the plant and equipment and freehold building as a production facility.

It is claimed that that a buyer could commence trading from with immediate effect with interest already expressed in the site.

Norman King of Unite said: "This is another tragic loss of jobs within the print industry in Scotland."

Ernst & Young cited a limited order book as one of the main reasons for the immediate winding down of the company and added that it was not possible to complete the small number of remaining customer orders.

According to accounts filed at Companies House, Beith recorded a small profit of £11,728 for the last financial year following a £125,604 loss for the previous year. The company had a turnover of £3.6m.

However, in the report the company recognised the existence of "a material uncertainty which may cast doubt over the company's ability to continue as a going concern". The root of this uncertainty was its current liabilities which exceeded its current assets by £750,467.