After weeks of speculation, the Harlow-headquartered printer went into administration on Tuesday afternoon (21 February).

Staff had been sent home at the beginning of February, having been told the company could not afford to pay them.

According to the directors, the ultimate collapse of Blue occurred due to "a combination of overtrading with insufficient funds and the actions of the factoring companies concerned".

In a statement, the directors said: "While we are in no way absolving the board of any possible errors in judgement, the fact that the company was forced out of business while still profitable and solvent is testament to the attempts by management to maintain a healthy business.

"Despite the untimely ending for the company, the board is proud to state that in the 10 years of trading, we have been fortunate to have saved hundreds of jobs and employed many excellent workers, through the purchase of the goodwill of many companies. We wish all those involved the very best for the future."

Upon his appointment as administrator to the group Tony Murphy, of insolvency practioners Harrisons, told PrintWeek that the main reason the company closed was "cashflow".

"When you expand turnover by £5m, like they did, you need to spend £4m and that sucks cash into work in progress and a company can very easily fall victim by expanding very quickly, people often forget that."

The directors also revealed in their statement that the anticipated sales boost from Blue's ill-fated APG acquisition had fallen well short of expectations, as "£9m per annum forecast" actually ended up being closer to £4.25m.

See next week's PrintWeek for more.